Mining Indaba: Stronger checks and balances needed to ensure safety in South African mines
Mining leaders met for the second day at the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday, where safety in the industry was in sharp focus.
Mining
CAPE TOWN – The mining industry believes stronger checks and balances need to be in place to prevent tragic accidents at mines, as the sector takes stock of safety regulations.
Mining leaders met for the second day at the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday, where safety in the industry was in sharp focus.
This is as deaths at mines rose to 54 last year, from 45 in the previous year.
Mining consulting firm, DSS Plus warned that the mining industry needed to be agile in addressing the complex challenges.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba, DSS Plus director Jaco Pieterse weighed in on safety standards in the sector.
“Unfortunately, with safety, these things can be devastating in consequences and can have far-reaching implications. There was a particular incident where in excess of 10 people tragically passed away and as a result, the year-on-year performance was worse than the previous year.
“But what’s important is to have that chronic, unease consistently and not be deterred by improving or lagging KPIs [Key Performance Indicators] but having a constant focus on material risk and what are the concrete steps to mitigate the risk.”
While Pieterse said the overall safety policies in the industry are up to par, he believes there are still some shortcomings.
“A big challenge, however, is the adoption on site, so the practical implementation of what that means across the different layers of an organisation.”