OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
Mines are failing to curb death rates
There has been no improvement in mine fatality rates from 2014 to 2016, according to the mine health and safety inspectorate’s 2016-17 annual report tabled in Parliament on Monday. The report showed the fatality rate per million hours worked was 0.08 in 2016, the same rate as in the two previous years. This is the key indicator used to measure mine safety, as it strips out the effects of employees who are on leave or on strike and takes into account the size of the sector, which has shed more than 12,000 jobs since 2012 according to the Chamber of Mines. Solidarity’s deputy general secretary for health and safety, Paul Mardon, said the 2017 figures were likely to be worse, as it had been a particularly difficult year for the industry. Mine owners were distracted by the challenges posed by the Mining Charter, production pressures and retrenchments, and were not prioritising the health and safety of workers, he said. "There should be an extra effort in health and safety, but it’s not ...
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