A Holistic Approach for Improving the Health and Safety Records of South African Mines (original) (raw)

2017, International labor rights case law

On 5 February 2016, eighty-seven workers were trapped in the Vantage Goldfields Lily Gold Mine near Barberton, South Africa. The mine is currently closed. All the workers were safely evacuated and brought to the surface. Three employees working on the surface at the time, however, are still missing. The search for them will resume six to eight months after the mine is declared safe. Vantage Goldfields in the meantime has applied to put the Lily Mine under business rescue administration. The tragedy and how safety and health issues in South African mines are dealt with returns the case to the spotlight, especially in respect to Articles 5(2)(c) and (d) and 16 of the ilo Convention concerning Safety and Health in Mines, 1995 (No. 176) which was ratified by South Africa in 2000. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (ceacr) noted that the South African Department of Mineral Resources states in its annual report of 2013-2014 that safety remains a challenge in the country's mining industry. Ninety-three fatalities were reported in 2013, down from 112 in 2012. The 2013 fatalities per commodity are as follows: gold (37), platinum (27), coal (7), and others such as diamond, chrome, and iron (22). In the 2014-2015 fiscal year, seventy-one fatalities were reported as compared to seventy-nine in the 2015-2016 fiscal. This marginal increase is explained by repeat accidents, which has led to more routine inspections and audits in an attempt to curb the problem.