Mining industry records record-low deaths in 2022

In an otherwise challenging year for SA’s mining sector amid a worsening power crisis and rail failures, the sector reduced worker deaths to a record low.    

The 2022 Mine Health and Safety Statistics show that 49 mineworkers died on the job in 2022 compared with 74 in 2021 and 60 in 2020. 

At the release of the report on Tuesday, mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe lauded the “milestone” improvement but said the target should be zero deaths.

“There is a desire for zero harm, the way to that is through zero fatality. People must go to work and come back home safely,” he  said.

“There is a general understanding and appreciation that the health and safety of mineworkers is central to the long-term sustainability of the mining industry. It is the workers who convert investments in the industry into wealth.”

Mines reported 1,946 serious injuries in 2022, down from 2,123 in 2021. Over the past three years there have been no major mine disasters or accidents involving deaths of at least five people. 

“The industry will build on the momentum we achieved during 2022 when we halted and significantly reversed the regression in safety during the previous two years in which 74 and 60 of our colleagues died in 2021 and 2020 respectively,” said Lerato Tsele, acting head of safety and sustainable development at Minerals Council SA.

“This has been the result of many organisational and industry-level interventions and resolute leadership from, particularly, the industry CEOs.”

Statistics show the most significant progress recorded is in the reduction of deaths from fall-of-ground accidents, which dropped to six from 20 a year earlier. No machinery-related fatalities were recorded in 2022 compared with three in 2021.

The reduction in fall-of-ground fatalities was the result of several interventions implemented over a number of years, said the Minerals Council.

The long-term trend shows that these fatalities fell to an average of 24 a year in the five years to end-2020, down from an average of 111 a year in 2001-2005.

Key interventions were the implementation of entry examinations and daily safety checks from 2009. In 2012, netting and bolting of tunnel roofs and walls was introduced. The use of steel nets is now a common feature in SA’s deep-level mines.

While these statistics were encouraging, Mantashe said the safety of women working in mines was a concern.

About 62,000 women work in the sector. As this number rises, “it raises new challenges in health and safety” on mines, Mantashe said.

“As male workers working with these women, we must appreciate them. Women must not be abused, women must never be objects of abuse; [they] should be respected.”

In December last year the Minerals Council and its members launched a partnership with the National Prosecuting Authority and GBVF Response Fund to support gender-based violence response centres in mining communities and labour-feeding areas.

Through the partnership, the mining industry supports the NPA’s Thuthuzela Care Centres in communities near mines. These centres offer immediate care and counselling for victims, and also collect evidence to ensure successful prosecutions.

erasmusd@businsslive.co.za