Improving safety and health in underground mining by empowering workers and control room operators to respond to typical exposure risks in the production environment

Abstract

Generally there have been significant improvements in the fatality record of the South African mining industry, from more than 1200 per year in 1950 to 51 in 2019.The continued loss of life in the mining industry shows that, although there are significant improvements in mine safety, much still has to be done. There are generally less fatalities in the mining industry in developed countries due to adoption of various technologies. The current risk management and assessment systems being used in the South African mining industry prove not to be adequate to stop people from losing lives underground. What is missing from the currently used systems is a comprehensive and integrated system which can empower workers and control room operators to respond to typical exposure risks in the production environment. Mine statistics also show that there are a considerable number of past accidents that occurred underground due to the ‘blame game’ between miners and mine management on the issue of entering and withdrawing from dangerous workings. Miners claim that their right to withdraw from dangerous workings is usually difficult to exercise especially when there is no real-time evidence to substantiate the presence of dangerous conditions. To the contrary, mine management claim that miners are sometimes negligent and usually enter unauthorised, risky working areas, regardless of them being empowered to use their right to withdraw from dangerous workings. Technology such as real-time atmospheric monitoring and personnel monitoring can be used in risk management and assessment in such situations. In this research, the impact of using technologies in preventing and reducing fatalities is briefly discussed. There are a number of leading practices and technologies that can be adopted to improve health and safety in the mining industry. The research critically analyses four case studies of fatality incidents which occurred in the South African mining industry and how they could have been avoided. By testing some of the available leading technologies in the areas of real-time personnel and equipment monitoring, real-time atmospheric monitoring, and lamproom management systems, the research tries to prove that there is potential to improve health and safety in the mining industry. The research emphasises the need for the mining industry to give more or at least equal attention to health issues as they do to safety issues since the consequences of health risks are long term and cause more fatalities. The findings of the research show that there is a great potential in using technology to manage risks and enhance both health and safety in underground mines. It is concluded from the research that using some of the available technologies in the mining industry, control room operators can communicate health and safety decisions to the underground workers in real-time and help in eliminating fatal accidents. The research also shows that it is possible to implement Section 23 of the Mine Health and Safety Act, which empowers miners to withdraw from dangerous working by using technology. However, to realise the full benefits of these technologies, the study shows that there is a need to integrate the technology systems. The research developed a framework on how to integrate technology systems. The research showed that nurturing a solid safety culture in the mining industry is also important in the journey to achieving zero harm. Introducing technologies and other risk management tools will also be a good supplement on the safety culture. Ultimately, it is concluded in the research that there is great potential for the mining industry to achieve the goal of zero harm through the use of integrated systems. Miners and control room operators can be empowered through the use of technology to respond to typical health and safety exposure risks in the production environment