What has become of our dream to save lives in the mining industry?
There’s a danger that the goals of the 2014 and 2016 Mine Occupational Health and Safety Summit will not be achieved on time
Is the dream for zero harm in the mining industry in trouble? Milestones agreed on by all industry stakeholders at the 2014 and 2016 Mine Occupational Health and Safety Summit are in danger of not being achieved within their timeline. They include eliminating all mining fatalities by 2020 and a 20% reduction in serious injuries (either incapacitating employees from performing their normal or similar occupations for periods totalling 14 days or more or causing employees to suffer the loss of joints, or part of joints, or permanent disability). Combined efforts by stakeholders are not bearing any fruits. At the end of the summit last year, there was consensus among all the partners in that things had to be done differently if the sector wanted to achieve the milestone targets and ultimate goal of Zero Harm. When releasing 2016 statistics on health and safety earlier this month (January) Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane pointed out that, in the year to November 2016 there had...
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