Articles

The Minerals Council reports a significant increase in safety and health interventions in the South African mining industry, despite a decline in 2023’s progress towards zero harm.

However, the Minerals Council and Department of Mineral resources and Energy (DMRE) have made significant progress towards zero harm in the industry, with a 42% decline in fatalities to 49 in 2022, a record low from 84 in 2014.

“This year, the Minerals Council and its members will assess the industry’s performance over the past decade, learning from what has worked, and reinvigorate successful interventions to eliminate fatalities and make the sector a healthy work environment. The industry will continue sharing and adopting global leading practices, introducing modern, innovative mining methods, and relentlessly drive changes in health and safety cultures at mining operations,” said Japie Fullard, Chair of the CEO Zero Harm Forum.

The South African mining industry experienced a significant decrease in fatalities and injuries between 2014 and 2022, with falls-of-ground and transportation-and-mining being the leading causes.

However, the number of fatalities regressed in 2023, despite a record safety performance the previous year. The Minerals Council cannot release final figures until DMRE announces the safety and health statistics.

Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane said ensuring the health and safety of employees is critical to our approach and the sustainability of the industry.

The council noted in their Facts and Figures Pocketbook 2023 that safety is trending upwards, with industry performance having been on course for a much better year, when unfortunately, in November 2023, an incident killed 13.

Fullard said before the single incident in November in which 13 employees died, we were tracking well compared to 2022 and we were trending well on our path to zero harm. It was a real shock for the industry, but it was heart-warming to see the industry pull together and help and assist that company in emergency responses and offers of support. That was very encouraging. Safety is not a competition and we are all in this together.

“We share safety learnings amongst ourselves as CEOs and executives and we take this process very seriously. On the first working day of every month, mining company CEOs and executives meet for an Hour of Learning hosted by the Minerals Council to have open and frank discussions about safety incidents, what the causes were, and what measures we can all implement to avoid repeats,” he added.

“The platinum and gold sectors were the highest contributors to fatalities, with 22 and 20 fatalities in 2023, respectively. Transportation and mining, general, fires, electricity, and explosives were the agencies that experienced a reduction in the number of fatalities, while all the other agencies recorded regressions.”

The Minerals Council Board and CEO Zero Harm Forum are monitoring progress on the trackless mobile machinery project to address transport-related incidents and implementing recommendations on traffic flow and risk analysis.

Companies have made significant progress in vehicle and personnel communication and have also managed compliance with regulations effective December 2022.

“Over the long term, the mining industry has made significant progress in the health of miner employees. Although there was an increase in occupational diseases reported in the industry in 2022 compared to 2021, there was a decrease of about one third in the number of occupational health diseases reported by the industry in 2022 compared to 2019, which was the year before the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic distorted health statistics in 2020 and 2021 as there was under-reporting,” said Dr Thuthula Balfour, the Head of Health at the Minerals Council.

In 2023, the industry saw a 4% decrease in serious injuries, with 1,907 compared to 1,988 in 2022. Gold experienced a 7% increase in injuries, while platinum saw a 9% reduction. Coal and other commodities regressed by 10% and 4%, respectively.