Although the official 2023 safety statistics and 2022 health statistics (with an unfortunate one-year lag) had not yet been released by the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE) for South African mines at the time of writing, the Minerals Council South Africa was able to discuss the general trends in health and safety on mines as well as hone in on some of the successful industry safety initiatives at the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2024 in February.
Disappointingly, the industry experienced a regression in safety on mines in 2023. The number of fatalities increased last year, after the industry’s record safety performance the year before. Jappie Fullard, CEO of Glencore Alloys and chair of the CEO Zero Harm Forum at the Minerals Council South Africa said, “Before the single incident in November in which 13 employees lost their lives, the industry was tracking well on its path to Zero Harm compared to 2022. This was a shock for the industry, but it was heart-warming to see the industry pull together and assist the company in emergency responses and offers of support.” He emphasised that safety space is not competitive in the industry, but instead it is hallmarked by collaborative efforts by the industry to reach a goal SA MINING’S JOURNEY TO ZERO HARM – DISRUPTED Industry collaboration and initiatives to improve health and safety on South African mines have gained traction long term, despite regrettable periodic disruption and regression. Compiled by Sharyn Macnamara of Zero Harm for the industry. Fullard explained that the Minerals Council’s CEO Zero Harm Forum is a vehicle for both members and non-members driving safety initiatives with a philosophy of CEOship at the helm whereby leaders accept 100% accountability for their employees’ safety.
The mining industry had set health and safety milestones in its quest for Zero Harm in 2014 and has since shown that focussed interventions targeting the causes of fatalities, injuries and disease have gained significant traction. In the past decade, the industry – led by the Minerals Council in collaboration with the DMRE and organised labour and through company-specific programmes to directly engage employees – achieved a 42% decline in the number of fatalities with a record low of 49 in 2022 from the 84 reported in 2014. The historical leading causes of deaths and injuries – falls-ofground (FOG) and transportation-and-mining incidents (involving Trackless Mobile Machinery, TMMs) have declined by 83% and 43% respectively, while injuries have declined by 19%. Fullard highlighted that this year, the Minerals Council plans to assess the industry’s performance over the past decade (learning from what has worked) and reinvigorate successful interventions to reach its goal of Zero Harm.
