Mines count cost of Covid and work-related fatalities

Covid claimed the lives of 749 miners over the last two years, with 74 more losing their lives in work-related fatalities, Minerals Council of SA chief executive Roger Baxter told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town last week.

Mine fatalities reached their lowest level in three decades in 2019, when the number dropped to 51. That statistic promptly reversed course to claim 60 lives in 2020 and 74 in 2021.

That compares with the US, which reported its sixth consecutive year of mine fatalities below 30 in 2020.

Baxter says there appears to be a variety of reasons behind the deteriorating mine fatality performance, with work fatigue being a key culprit.

Figures from the department of mineral resources and energy show “falls of ground” as the leading cause of mine deaths until 2011, when it was brought under control.

Some 30% of mine fatalities were from fall of ground incidents in 2020, prompting the Minerals Council’s Zero Harm Forum to find out why this was.

It found an exodus of experienced rock engineers from SA, with many others reaching retirement age, with little or no progress on execution of rock-related projects currently in Mine Health and Safety Council research programme and projects.

Another reason for rock-related incidents was an attitude of getting the job done, often at the cost of safety.

Transport-related accidents are another leading cause of fatalities, which is a reason for the move towards the kind of “operator assist” technology employed at Kumba Iron Ore operations.

This technology uses sensors and overrider technology to prevent trucks colliding with people or other obstacles in the pathway, or making otherwise dangerous manoeuvres.

The Minerals Council has stepped up its efforts to bring mine fatalities under control, including deploying more skilled employees to work in high-risk areas, preventing unauthorised access to previously mined areas and implementing stricter controls in these areas, as well as making sure workers receive sufficient breaks to prevent fatigue.

There were 749 people in the industry who died from Covid over the last two years, with a fatality rate of 1.18% for the sector as a whole – which is lower than the general population.

More than 70% of mine workers are vaccinated against Covid, about double the level for the general population.

Dr Thuthula Balfour, head of health at the Minerals Council, points to a number of successes in the mining sector, including a sharp decline in diseases such as tuberculosis, which were at one time a major cause of death on mines.

The mining sector is also having a major impact on HIV which, like Covid and TB, is now largely under control due to proactive measures taken to protect workers.

Fall of ground leading killer, with blame laid on SA’s ‘brain drain’