Johannesburg - Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane is scheduled to announce mine safety statistics at a press conference in Pretoria today amid concerns that the mining industry has dropped its focus on safety.
An underground fire that claimed the lives of four miners at Impala Platinum’s 14 shaft last Friday is the latest case in point. It has drawn condemnation from trade unions and NGOs, including the Benchmarks Foundation, which said it believed it was clearly a matter of profits trumping human rights.
Yesterday, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa alleged that the industry was killing workers.
“Leading the safety statistics are the gold mines, followed by platinum mines. There is scope for drastic reforms to achieve the zero deaths target in our mines,” Mathunjwa told journalists.
He was speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg where he called for the beefing up of mine safety.
Poor standards
“The tragedy that unfolded on Friday at Impala is an agonising cue that we all need to sustain the fight against… clandestine observance of safety procedures and poor investment in health and safety equipment by employers”, which prevented the transformation of underground work from being a death warrant, Mathunjwa said.
He alleged that workers had insufficient resources with a rescue pack that ran out of oxygen while they were attempting to escape.
“The fire was at the bottom level. The workers killed were at the upper level. In an attempt to save them they even used dust masks,” Mathunjwa said.
“The rescue packs only last between 25 minutes and 30 minutes. According to international standards, such rescue packs (should) last for a minimum of 60 minutes ensuring the longevity of strapped individuals and improving their prospects of escaping such disasters. The current equipment used by Impala is cheap and a cost saving mechanism that is high risk,” Mathunjwa added.
Impala spokesman Johan Theron said the rescue packs found on the miners had been sent for forensic investigation.
“At this time, it is impossible to say anything about their use during the incident, including how long they actually lasted,” he added.
“However, the rescue packs we use at Impala are the same as what you will find in Australia, Canada and other first world countries. They certainly meet international standards in all aspects and no cost was spared to ensure we provide all our workers at Impala the best equipment available for a possible emergency underground,” Theron said.
“The use of this equipment was instrumental in the safe evacuation of all the other workers, but tragically for reasons that we hope to learn through the investigation, failed these four employees.”
Last month there were two fatalities at the same Impala shaft, prompting the National Union of Mineworkers to call for Impala to improve its health and safety system
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The Department of Mineral Resources is investigating the cause of the fire.
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