Health, safety at mines improves on all fronts

Injuries remains a concern – Mantashe

The SA mining sector reported 49 fatalities in the year 2022, down by 25 compared to 2021.

This was revealed by mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe during the release of the mine health and safety report for the 2021/2022 financial year in Pretoria on Tuesday.

The sector had 60 fatalities in 2020 and 51 workers died in 2019.

The report showed that airborne pollutants exposures were reduced from 6.87% in 2020 to 5.54%, while noise over-exposure was reduced from 0.87% to 0.51%.

There was also a reduction in the total occupational diseases recorded, with at least 1,924 cases reported in 2021, a decline of 4.42% from 2,013 recorded in 2020.

Deadlines for the reporting of categories in health and safety are different hence some include 2022 figures while others end in 2021.

“The industry has improved… There is a desire to achieve zero harm. There must be no one dying at mines. Workers put their lives at risk to convert the investment into wealth. Once we appreciate that, workers get fair treatment and protection,” Mantashe said. He said that the improvements were also caused by workers exercising their rights not to work in a dangerous environment.

“If you enter a dangerous place, you may not come out. Unions must enforce that provision in the law. An industry that kills its workers is not sustainable. An industry that protects its workers is sustainable,” Mantashe said.

The highest number of occupational diseases was recorded in 2013, when the sector had 6,810 reported cases.

There was an 11.4% reduction in silicosis cases from 271 in 2020 to 240 in 2021. The Platinum Group Metals reported a 67% reduction of silicosis cases from 33 in 2020 to 11 in 2021.The gold sector reduction of silicosis was from 233 cases in 2020 to 225 in 2021. In general the mining sector registered a 6.6% reduction in pulmonary tuberculosis with 793 cases reported in 2021 compared to 849 the previous year.

Fall of ground, which is one of the major causes of fatalities, was reduced by 73% from 22 in 2021 to six incidents in 2022.

Also, injuries decreased from 2,143 in 2021 to 2,056 in 2022.

Mantashe said the number of injuries was a big concern, despite the slight reduction.

“An injury is a pointer that there was a potential for fatalities. Therefore we have to address injuries in the mines.”

Mantashe said power outages had affected the sector negatively and his department had made proposals to public enterprises on what could be done to end the energy crisis.

‘‘ An injury is a pointer that there was a potential for fatalities