2. Report on State of OHS at Mines and Activities of the MHSI: 2006-07
TE GAZI
Chief Inspector of Mines
Department of Minerals and Energy

3. Discussion Topics Introduction Legislation MHSI responsibilities
The Mining & Minerals Industry
OHS Performance
Safety Matters
Health Matters
Health and Wellness Programme
Training and Development
Improvement Strategies
Conclusion

4. Introduction Legislative frame work: MHSA 1996
Protection of employees and other persons at mines,
Provide for appropriate systems for tripartite involvement in OHS matters
Defines duties, responsibilities and rights of
Employees, Employers and the State
Safety and Health in the mining industry is regulated by the MHSA,
The objectives of the act amongst others include the protection of mine employees and persons affected by mining operations; promote tripartite involvement on health and safety matters; defines duties, responsibilities and rights of employees, the state and employers.
The responsibility for ensuring that mines are operated in a safe and healthy manner rest with employers and employees also have a rights to refuse to do dangerous work.

5. Introduction (cont.) The MHSI: Established in terms of the MHSA
Responsible for regulating OHS in the mining industry
MHSI Responsibilities:
Monitoring of compliance to OHS requirements
Enforcement of OHS requirements at mines
Conduct investigations and inquiries into mining accidents
Develop policies that promote OHS
The MHSI was established in terms of the MHSA for the purpose of regulating OHS in the minerals and mining sectors.
The responsibilities involve the monitoring of compliance to safety and health requirements through conducting inspections and audits to monitor and enforce OHS requirements.

6. Minerals Sector Profile
The “bed rock” of SA’s industrialisation
Contribution to GDP
Direct 7%
Indirect 15%
Significant contributor to employment: employees
JSE market capitalisation: 30%
Major global producer of Gold, PGM, Manganese, Coal, Diamond, etc
South Africa’s industrialisation commenced in the latter 1800 following the discovery of massive diamond bearing kimberlitic deposits in the Northern Cape and later the gold bearing deposits of the Witwatersrand. It is therefore fitting to refer the minerals and mining sector as the bed rock of South Africa’s industrialisation.
Today, the sector’s contribution to the economy has diminished due to the development of other sectors, it however is still a significant contributor to the GDP at 7% direct contribution and 15% indirect contribution.
The industry employes approximately half a million people.

7. Minerals Sector Profile (cont.)
Operations:
High Risk-Large, deep, labour intensive Au & Pt u/g mines
Medium Risk-Mechanised Base Metal and Coal Mines
Low Risk-Surface mines

8. Occupational Safety-Fatalities by Commodity
Major Commodity
Actuals
Rates pmh
2005
2006
% Rate Change
Gold
105
113
0.31
0.34
10%
Plat. 47 40
0.14
0.11
-21%
Coal 16 19
0.13
0.16
23%
Diam. 7 4
0.09
-44%
Total
201
199
0.20 0%
The MHSI believes that one death is one too many and supports the zero harm principle adopted by its sector partners at the 2003 MHSC Summit. It is always with deep sorrow that we have to report that people are still dying in the sector and thus meaning that there is a lot of room for improving our efforts.
The reported number of employees who died from occupational injuries across the sector are currently confirmed to be 200 following a subsequent death that was reported later in the year. Initial reports indicated 199 which reflected a significant milestone in that, for the first time in the history of the country, less than 200 people died from mining related injuries.
We however are disappointed to report that the rate at which people loose their lives in the industry remained unchanged at a rate of 0.2 per million hours worked.
Focusing on the fatalities by commodity.
We are happy to report that fatalities in the Platinum sector decreased in line with our milestone set at the 2003 Summit, and the others sector need to learn from what is being done in the this sector. This is a significant achievement if one takes into account the fact that the number of people reported to be employed in this sector increased by 10% during the same period.
The Gold sector realised an increase of 10% in fatalities though the labour in that sector decreased by 4%, meaning that the gold mines have become highly risky and desperate measures are necessary to reverse the trend.
Please note that for the purpose of this presentation, we are focusing on the major contributors to safety and health problems, a detailed and comprehensive analysis can be found in the MHSI Annual Report.
The contribution of the gold sector to the overall stats is of serious concern as it is punching above it’s weight. As per the data available, it contributes 57% to the number of fatal accidents, though it’s contribution to the employment figures is only 33%. This indicates that in order for significant improvements to be realised, quantum leaps must be achieved in the Gold sector.
The booming platinum industry is contributing 20% though it’s share of the employment figures is 36%.

9. Occupational Safety-Reportable Injuries by Commodity
Major Commodity
Actuals
Rates pmh
2005
2006
% Rate Change
Gold
2338
2311
6.85
7.02 2%
Plat.
1155
1345
3.54
3.75 6%
Coal
181
250
1.48
2.05
39%
Diam. 69 44
1.55
1.02
-34%
Total
3985
4159
4.06
4.13

10. OHS Performance Occupational Safety- Summarised
Number of persons killed on duty in 2006 was 200 down from 201 in 2005.
Corresponding Fatality rates remained unchanged at 0.20 per million hours (rpmh) worked.
Platinum sector fatalities decreased from 47 in 2005 to 40 in 2006.
The corresponding rates decreased at a desirable 21% from 0.14 to 0.11 rpmh
Gold sector fatalities increased from 105 in 2005 to 113 in 2006.
Rates increased an unacceptable 10% from 0.31 to 0.34 rpmh

11. OHS Performance (cont.)
Occupational Safety
Coal sector fatalities increased from 16 in 2005 to 19 in 2006.
The corresponding rates increased at a worrying 23% from 0.13 to 0.16 rpmh
Diamond sector fatalities decreased from 7 in 2005 to 4 in 2006.
Rates decreased a highly commendable 44% from 0.16 to 0.09 rpmh
The coal sector needs to implement drastic measures as the their employees also decreased by half a percent though and they are going more than 100% from the desirable direction.
The Diamond sector had a 44% reduction in the number of people killed in mine accidents, compared to their 4% reduction in labour reported.

13. Safety Performance-Classification
Main Agents
Fatality Rates
Injury Rates
2005
2006 %
FOG
0.08 0%
1.12
1.08
-4%
Mach.
0.01
0.02
100%
0.27
T&M
0.05
0.78
0.87
12%
Gen
0.04
0.03
-3%
1.7
1.76
When analysing the accident trends further by looking at injuries per classification, it shows that Machinery related fatalities increased 100%, whilst the general category decreased by 3% and FOG and and Transport and Mining stagnated.
The injury rates from accidents caused by FOG and General categories show a commendable 4% decrease, whilst Machinery Injuries remained unchanged and Transport and Mining increased 12%.
This state of affairs is reflective of the challenges relating to recruiting and retaining mechanical engineers in the sector as a whole. The MHSI’ s Inspectors of Machinery post have become a serious challenge to fill where some post have remained vacant for years inspite of them having being advertised on numerous occasions.

14. Occupational Health Legislative Background Risk assessment
A system of Medical Surveillance
Annual Medical Report

15. Health Performance-Airborne Pollutants
Commodity
Percentage of Persons Exposed
A (OEL>1)
B (0.5>OEL<1)
C (0.1>OEL<0.5)
Coal
74%
14%
12%
Diamond 0%
100%
Gold 1% 2%
97%
Total 5% 3%
92%
Total number of A & B category has decreased from 15 and 26% reported last year to the current 5 and 3% respectively.

16. Health Performance-Noise
Commodity
Percentage of Persons Exposed
A (OEL>105dB)
B (85>OEL<105)
C (82>OEL<85)
Platinum
22%
74% 4%
Iron Ore 3%
75%
Gold 8%
57%
35%
Total
12%
69%
19%
A great reduction in the number of Category A exposures for many of the commodities though the total almost doubled from 6% in 2005 to 12% in 2006.
These changes are attributable to the significant changes in sampling requirements introduced in December 2005.

17. Occupational Diseases
Interpretation of the graph:
Silicosis: The results suggests that Silicosis is increasing in the Gold and Platinum mines, whereas it appears that it is constant in the Coal mines.
Pulmonary TB: The results suggests that TB is decreasing in all commodities.
Noise: The results suggest that Noise is decreasing in Gold, Platinum and Coal mines.
DME Challenges and Solutions:
The reliability and validity of the latter statistical report are not quantifiable.
DME is currently developing a data base strategy to improve the reporting, recording and analysis of the Annual Medical Report. This systems will improve and increase the number of mines that report to DME.

18. Health and Wellness Programmes
HIV Tripartite Committee
HIV Principal Tripartite Committee
HIV and AIDS Summit
Survey on HIV & AIDS interventions as declared at the 2003 HIV & AIDS summit
National Strategic Plan for HIV & AIDS ( )

19. HIV Programmes Survey Results: Overall
VCT Voluntary Counselling & Testing
ARV – Anti Retroviral
STI – Sexually Transmitted Infection
TB - Tuberculosis

20. HIV Programmes Survey Results: Prevention

21. HIV Programmes Survey Results: Socio-Economic Factors

22. HIV Programmes Survey Results: Treatment, Care & Support

23. Improvement Strategies
Knowledge Management
Integration of databases to assist in identifying problem areas proactively
Service provider appointed to commence with development of new system
Audit & inspection methodologies being revised to improve quality and effectiveness
Workplaces being stopped for high risk non-conformances and repeat offences (50 stopped recently)
Discussions with other law enforcement agencies on inquiry findings

24. Improvement Strategies (cont)
Enforcement Activities (cont.)
Admin Fines being imposed for serious transgressions (R imposed since April 2007 and R600k under appeal)
Occupational Health
DME is reviewing the policy on TB to align it with the new National TB Strategy
DME collaboration with DOH:
Improve on problems experienced with reporting TB statistics in the mining industry
Improve on incapacitation strategy

25. Training and Development Plan
Interventions
Programme
Program Details
Impact/Duration
Status 1
MDP (SAMDI)
Training Programme
Short term
Short to medium
4 officials attended AMDP @ SAMDI 2
Mentorship
Experiential Training
Medium term
Medium to long
23 HDI graduates undergoing experiential training at GFA 3
Student
Long term
7 bursaries allocated to HDI for mining related studies
Training and Development
Internship Programme
Bursary Scheme

26. Programme Performance
Service Delivery Indicators
Investigations and inquiries-finalisation within set time frame the main problem
Inquiries-59% vs 80% target
Investigations-75% vs 80%
Vacancies- 21% vs the 10% target
Staff Turn Over-14% vs the 10% target
Transformation
Africans % vs 65% target
Whites % vs 27.7%
Coloureds - 3.0% vs 5.7%
Asians - 0.4% vs 1.6%
Females % vs 45%
Male vs 55%
Disabled 1.5% vs 2%
The slide only focuses on areas were targets were not achieved during the year.
The problems with achieving the targets are directly caused by problems with ability to retain and recruit staff. The skills shortage in the country is seen as a major contributor and the MHSI has to compete for the scarce skills with the mining industry.

27. Conclusion MHSI Needs to look into the following to make an impact
Recruitment and retention
Training and development
Knowledge management
Audits and Inspections quality
Enforcement