Johannesburg - One does not want to put the commentator's curse on the SA mining sector, but it looks like it could be in for a significant improvement in the fatality rate compared to 2007.
In any sport, a commentator's remark that things are going well generally results in a dramatic reversal of fortune, but here's hoping this piece doesn't do the same to what promises to be a healthy reduction in the number of deaths.
Over recent years the South African mining sector has come under close scrutiny - and rightly so - for its safety record. After initial successes in 2004 and 2005 during a drive to reduce fatalities, the mines reached a plateau in 2006.
This boded ill for the sector's commitment to reducing fatalities by 20% a year to bring it in line by 2013 with standards set by its North American and Australian peers.
Bear in mind, this is an enormous thing to ask after decades of an almost fatalistic approach to safety, coupled with the fact that South African mines are the deepest in the world. Depth brings with it issues of seismicity or earthquakes, bursting rocks, falling ground, astonishing heat and technical challenges.
The death toll on South African mines so far this year is 156, with the latest incident a fatality in an underground locomotive accident at AngloGold Ashanti's Moab Khotsong mine.
It appears callous to do maths and averages on people's lives, but dividing 156 by 11 to reach a monthly average of 14.2 and then adding that to the figure so far we are looking at 170 deaths for the year.
Not wanting to make light of the grief endured by families whose breadwinners were killed on the mines, or detract from the fact that 170 people is an inexcusable number to die in extracting the country's mineral wealth, it's a relatively impressive improvement.
A simple exercise to realise how many people die each year to produce the country's gold, platinum, coal and diamonds among other minerals is to look around you and try to count 170 people. Or tote up all your friends and family. I'll vouch you come nowhere near that number - it's a lot.
CEOs with a conscience
However, against 2007's 221 fatalities, this possible figure for 2008 is a 23% improvement. That is a commendable achievement.
So what lies behind it? A couple of things, really.
There has been a concerted drive on a number of fronts to make mines safer, particularly noticeable in the gold mines, where there has been an influx of new vigour and ideas ushered in by a spring-cleaning of chief executive positions.
The top three gold miners - AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold - all have new leadership and some have made fantastic strides. AngloGold under Australian Mark Cutifani recorded a fatality-free quarter in June for the first time, something that deserves the highest praise.
Gold Fields' CEO Nick Holland, who has staked a third of his bonus on the company achieving a 50% improvement in its fatality rate, coined the phrase: "If we can't mine safely, we won't mine." He did this after nine workers were killed in a shaft accident on his first day in the new position.
Although Gold Fields took a smack in the September quarter's profits and production, Holland was able to boast the best safety performance of the South African gold majors.
Anglo American's new CEO Cynthia Carroll made safety on South African mines a priority, arguing that safety and profitability go hand in hand. Soon after her appointment, the subsidiary Anglo Platinum shut down mines temporarily to instil safety values after a terrible run of accidents.
These new CEOs are obviously having a positive impact, giving credence to the statement that safety starts at the top.
But it's not only an internal process that led to the reduction. The government and the Chamber of Mines (COM) are playing a role too.
Tough talk from officialdom
The government, through the understaffed mines inspectorate, has taken a far tougher line on mining fatalities, shutting operations for a limited time after a fatality to investigate the causes and put in place measures to try to make the workplace safer.
The tough-talking National Union of Mineworkers has taken to calling workers out for a day of mourning at mines where there has been a fatality. These closures and stay-aways eat into production and profits.
Parliament passed amendments to the mine safety laws in November, raising financial penalties fivefold to R1m and holding CEOs potentially criminally responsible for deaths. The COM argues the bill errs on the side of being too punitive, is in parts unconstitutional and could possibly drive skills out of the country.
It is working hard on safety measures that can be adopted across the industry, with companies lending skills towards the teams investigating health and safety strategies that can be implemented on South African mines.
The COM points out fatalities have fallen 50% over the past decade.
Certainly the sector has made giant strides from the 855 deaths recorded in 1986, but there is still a long way to go. The question is, presumably, are the potential gains made this year sustainable and can they be improved upon.
They have to do so. Consumers are becoming more and more aware of social and ethical considerations in their purchases. Will there come a time when society decides that people dying is not worth the ring, chain or pendant they're wearing?
- Miningmx.com
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