By Sharyn Macnamara
Safety trends moving in the right direction, successful ESG programmes, celebrated awards for safety excellence and a focus on challenges for the year ahead were all the order of the day, under the banner of “Safeguarding today while enabling a sustainable tomorrow” at COAL SAFE 2024.
Guest speaker, Mzila Mthenjane, CEO Minerals Council South Africa. ©African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror
Part 1 in this series of articles on COAL SAFE 2024, run by the voluntary South African Colliery Managers’ Association (SACMA), was published in our July issue of African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror. The insightful COAL SAFE 2024 conference was held on 9 May with representatives from government, labour and industry represented. Although the South African coal industry’s Health and Safety statistics are starting to reflect that Zero Harm is indeed achievable through the industry’s commitment and collaboration, the industry’s message was clear at the event that the sector’s endeavours are a work in progress and there is more work to be done.
Whereto from here?
Guest speaker, Mzila Mthenjane, CEO Minerals Council South Africa agreed that increased leadership visibility and CEO-ship had made a difference, and additional Minerals Council initiatives like the CEO Zero Harm forum, the hour learning among so many more industry initiatives have worked together to improve industry safety on the ground.
Mthenjane reiterated Mzisa’s sentiments, “We are inching closer to Zero Harm.” He spoke to the rate of change in both health and physical safety statistics over the past years. “Although the statistics vary, from a health perspective and in terms of the key metrics, like noise induced hearing loss and occupational diseases such as TB and silicosis, statistics are trending in the right direction – that is they are on a downward trend to just above or below industry targets.” He said that by the end of the year, the industry should have a holistic report on the Health and Safety trends tracked against the ten-year milestones established in 2004 and 2014 by the Tripartite structure.
Homing in on the priority of supporting the workforce on a “mental health level” in the face of retrenchments, Flip Marais (AMCU) highlighted ways in which operations could assist the workforce in these instances. ©African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror
So too, are the performance on injuries and fatalities trending on a downward trajectory in line with the milestones originally set. He spoke of major “breakthroughs” over the past 20 and 30 years – “those moments in time, when in terms of safety performance, the industry has reduced injuries and fatalities by 50% and more.”
In his opinion, the toughest part of the journey to Zero Harm will be to maintain it, once it is achieved. “Given the nature of the industry, which we all accept, is fraught with danger. And frankly, the safest mine is a mine where there are no people working. This is an issue that we do need to confront in the future as we see the evolution of technologies and the automation of the workplace in the office and on the face.” He noted the difference in South Africa where miners employ many people on mines and impact society positively through that function. So, when that time comes, “It is going be a tough trade off that we will need to make between having a fully automated mine with technology and no people working, while still producing coal and other minerals.”
Mthenjane re-iterated the importance of the coal industry to South Africa and the African continent at large. For instance the coal sector in South Africa supplied work to around 94 531 direct employees as at the end of 2023, and it also represents the largest component of South African mining in terms of production volumes, at around 250 million tonnes per annum.1 He noted that, within the mindset of a Just Energy Transition, “ensuring coal supply is still essential for energy security in the region and it is indispensable in the continent currently.”
The awards were presented by Dolly Masilela, COAL SAFE chair. Supplied by SACMA
Family voices – loud and clear
As an integral part of the family – in fact, the most important asset to any business – the voices of the people, through employee representatives from UASA, NUM, SOLIDARITY and NUMSA were heard loud and clear at the event.
Solidarity restated Mthenjane’s emphasis on the coal industry’s role in energy security and pointed out that the coal mining industry has been a key contributor providing much needed employment and more in the South African economy. However, “as reserves decline, the contribution of the industry diminishes, leading to additional challenges in sustaining economies that are heavily reliant on coal mining” and loss of jobs, economic activity and other serious consequences might lead to social upheaval.
UASA added, “sustainability is therefore key” in the industry as a whole. The latest disruptions and 189s across commodities in the country, together with the fact that the government has failed the people on may levels from power to rail and road challenges and more with resultant negative consequences for the man on the street, are adding major additional stress factors to the daily lives of the workforce. Managing the mental health of the workforce must therefore be a top priority for mining operations.
Homing in on the priority of supporting the workforce on a “mental health level” in the face of retrenchments, Flip Marais (AMCU) highlighted ways in which operations could assist the workforce in these instances, among them guarding against disinformation in the media and being sensitive in the issuing of notices where job loss stats seem to be inflated; unions to be sensitive to the fact that the economy is suffering and there are operations that are retrenching for the right reasons; reskilling should happen all the time, especially in the coal industry, where the workers may need to be open to working in other commodities in the future; and in cases of confirmed retrenchment, to support the employee when it comes to personal management of retrenchment packages, counselling and finding alternative employment.
George Hattingh, SACMA vice president. Supplied by SACMA
With the current spate of restructuring and the 189s in the industry, NUM noted that COAL SAFE was the perfect forum to show the workforce that “they are not alone” in these challenges, that unity and collaboration among all parties is reaffirmed and all are working together to safeguard jobs with sustainability top of mind. NUMSA too reiterated the fact that the road to Zero Harm is a journey that all stakeholders are on together to protect the workforce.
Safety successes, en route to Zero Harm
Coal Safe 2024 ultimately brought the state, employer, labour members and service providers together to share trends, concerns, challenges and solutions, best practices; to collaborate and network, but also to celebrate the successes and achievements of top performers in the health and safety space over the past year.
The South African coal industry (blue line on graph) had also fared favourably in a benchmark against international safety standards (Australiain red, USA in green) – despite the complexity of deeper mining in thecountry. (Graph representing Fatality Frequency Rates per million hours.) ©African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror
The event acknowledged the exceptional achievements in safety, occupational health, environmental management, and community development in 2023 through the HSEC award ceremony. The awards were presented by Dolly Masilela, COAL SAFE chair.
She said, “The mining industry, coal mining in particular, is instrumental in the development of our economy and supporting ecosystems. As an industry we have a responsibility to do what we can in the social programs we run and in how we manage our operations (ESG). The decisions we make should help us in defending our current business (to remain profitable and operational) but also enable us to protect our environment, to build sustainable communities and to ensure that we get our employees home, safely each and every day.”
With a spirit of gratitude, George Hattingh, SACMA vice president, thanked the audience and industry for its participation and expertise in keeping the industry safe and sustainable; the speakers for their insights and the SACMA team as organisers. He concluded COAL SAFE 2024 with an industry saying that embodies the dynamic and evolving challenge of safety, “The management of safety is much like sweeping water up hill”. It requires proactive and sustained efforts and never-ending vigilance.
For Part 1 in this series, go to: https://joom.ag/lAtd/p32
Reference:
| COAL SAFE 2024 HSEC AWARD CEREMONY: Environmental management Ambient Air Quality Compliance: 1st Prize – Seriti, New Vaal Environmental Projects: 1st Prize – Seriti, Middleburg Mine Services: Middleburg Water Reclamation Project 2nd Prize – Universal Coal: Magnetite Bags Recycling Project Section 34 EIA Regulations Compliance: 1st Prize – Exxaro, Belfast Project 2nd Prize – Seriti, Kriel Colliery |
| Community development 1st Prize – Sasol Coal: Electricity Upgrade Project 2nd Prize – Seriti Coal: Phola Community Clinic 3rd Prize – Mafube D684 Road Realignment Project |
| Occupational Health Most Improved Dust including Crystalline Silica Underground: Goedehoop Opencast: Exxaro, Leeuwpan Mine Most Improved Noise Underground: Khuthala Mine Opencast: Exxaro, Belfast Mine |
| Safety Fatality Free Production Shifts (FFPS):
Zero Lost Time Injury Free Shifts (LTI):
Fatality free businesses with 10 000 or more employees (2023)
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| COAL FOR HOPE COAL SAFE raised a total of R500 000 for the Coal for Hope in 2023. The beneficiary was Mapimpana Children’s Project at Doornkop. The funds were used for an after school feeding scheme for more than 200 children in the area. The funds were requested to upgrade the buildings so that meals could be safely prepared for more children and enable assistance with schoolwork after school. |
| COAL SAFE 2024 “STRIKES A CHORD”: One of the highlights of the event was a surprise guest – Mafikizolo star, Nhlanhla Mafu. She shared her personal experience of noise-induced hearing loss, which is a reality for many miners, and a serious issue that mines face where workers are exposed to noise on a regular basis. Mafu spoke of the repercussions of hearing loss, which in her experience led to anxiety, depression and mental breakdown. She implored workers to wear their PPE, to heed the warnings and the knowledge employers impart. Listen to what she had to say: https://youtu.be/GIf3c6nt40chttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/eMpfDDInEJU |
 © African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror |