BRIEFING TO THE PARLIAMENT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON MINERAL RESOURCES 24 June PRESENTATION OUTLINE Workers Compensation Legislation. One Stop Services Sites. Occupational health and safety Legislation. Health and Safety Performance. Challenges. DMR Interventions Summit Commitments. Conclusion. 2 ACRONYMS AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. CWP Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis. DMR Department of Mineral Resources. HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HEG - Homogeneous Exposure Groups. MHSC Mine Health and Safety Council. MQA Mining Qualification Authority. NIHL Noise Induced Hearing Loss. NIOH National Institute for Occupational Health. OEL Occupational Exposure Limit PTB Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Si-TB - Silico Tuberculosis. 3 WORKERS COMPENSATION LEGISLATION 4 ONE STOP SERVICE SITES Department collaborates with Departments of Health and Labour to establish One stop services. Eastern Cape Mthatha. Gauteng - Carletonville. Northern Cape Kuruman (2015/16). Limpopo Burgersfort (2015/16). Other provinces to follow including mobile units. Neighbouring countries (2015/16). 5 ONE STOP SERVICE SITES (Cont.) Health Services Medical examinations Rehabilitation assessment & services Post mortems Health Promotion Social Services Social Development Counselling Bursaries Financial Services Compensation UIF, pension, provident and other funds 6 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGISLATION 7 EMPLOYER TO ESTABLISH SYSTEM OF MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE 13(1)The employer must establish and maintain a system of medical surveillance of employees exposed to health hazards. 13(2) Every system of medical surveillance must (a) be appropriate, considering the health hazards to which the employees are or may be exposed. (b)(ii) prevent, detect and treat occupational diseases. (c) consist of an initial medical examination and other medical examinations at appropriate intervals. 8 GUIDELINE FOR COMPILATION OF CODE OF PRACTICE Objective: To assist the employer of every mine to compile a COP which, if properly compiled and complied with, to ensure adequate medical surveillance. 9 OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO AIRBORNE POLLUTANTS 9.2(1)The employer must ensure that the occupational exposure to health hazards of employees is maintained below the limits set out in Schedule 22.9(2)(a) and (b). Crystalline SilicaOEL:0.1 mg/m 3 10 GUIDELINE FOR COMPILATION OF CODE OF PRACTICE Objective: To assist the employer of every mine to compile a COP which, if properly compiled and complied with, will considerably reduce the risk of exposure to airborne pollutants including silica dust. 11 OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE PROGRAMME Airborne pollutants risk assessment and Control. Determination of Homogeneous Exposure Groups (HEG). Personal dust exposure monitoring. Airborne pollutants Measurement Methodology. Linkage between occupational hygiene measurements and medical surveillance records. Reporting and Recording. 12 13 14 15 16 17 Commodity % Change Gold Platinum Coal880 Diamond Other TOTAL SILICOSIS CASES REPORTED 18 19 IndicatorsOutcome Counselled for HIV (71%). Tested for HIV (64%). Tested HIV positive (9%). [10% for Gold and Platinum] Screened for TB (73%). Diagnosed with TB (1%). TB treatment (97%) HIV/AIDS AND TB DATA 20 CHALLENGES Entrenching sustainable culture on health and safety in mining sector. Exposure of workers to airborne pollutants. None or inadequate reporting of health statistics. High rate of occupational illness and diseases. Effective implementation of Integrated HIV/AIDS and TB Programmes. Timely adoption of research outcomes and leading practice. 21 Implement audit and inspection tools to improve on health matters including silicosis, noise induced hearing loss, HIV, AIDS and TB. Where necessary withdraw mineworkers exposed to health hazards including dust in terms of legal provisions. Review of the Mine Health and Safety legislation. CEOs requested to engage independent institutions to review companys health and safety systems. Promotion of occupational health in the mining sector. (Tripartite workshops, MHSC promotional material and individual stakeholder engagements). DMR INTERVENTIONS ON HEALTH 22 23 Collaborate with MQA to ensure that the curriculum of skills development programmes also include health and safety matters including on TB, HIV and AIDS. Develop and implement action plan to improve pass rate of certificate of competency examinations including on occupational hygiene. Training of occupational health and safety representatives and shop stewards trained during 2014/2015 period. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. 24 Department embarking on restructuring process to strengthen capacity to monitor compliance with legal provisions. Improve capacity on occupational health inspectors in the regions. Commenced with learner inspector programme where 50 graduates were placed at different mines, including occupational health learners. Enhance occupational health information evaluation. CAPACITY TO MONITOR COMPLIANCE. 25 The following commitments were made, Elimination of fatalities and injuries. Rehabilitation of mine workers injured in the line of duty. Elimination of occupational lung diseases including silicosis, Pneumoconiosis and Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis. Elimination of Noise Induced Hearing Loss. Reduction and prevention of TB, HIV and AIDS infections in line with the National Strategic Plan. Integrate and simplify compensation systems. Implementation of the approved Culture Transformation Framework including on women in mining concerns. Launch and implement the Centre of Excellence which will focus on research and capacity building of mineworkers SUMMIT COMMITMENTS Elimination of Silicosis By December 2024, 95% of all exposure measurement results will be below the milestone level for respirable crystalline silica of 0.05 mg/m 3 (these results are individual readings and not average results). Using present diagnostic techniques, no new cases of silicosis will occur amongst previously unexposed individuals. (previously unexposed individual are those unexposed to mining dust prior to December 2008 i.e. equivalent to a new persons who entered the industry in 2009) 26 2014 SUMMIT COMMITMENTS REDUCTION AND PREVENTION OF TB, HIV & AIDS INFECTIONS By December 2024: TB incidence rate should be at or below the National TB incident rate; and 100% of employees should be offered HCT annually with all eligible employees linked to an ART programme as per the National Strategic Plan (NSP). 27 2014 SUMMIT COMMITMENTS For each commitment clear action plans and initiatives were developed. Implementation of risk-specific activities such as: Adoption of leading practices Implementation of research outcomes Clear timeframes for delivery. Roles and responsibilities defined. 28 Although there has been improvement, significant effort is still required to prevent harm on mineworkers as a result of health hazards. The Department will continue to enforce the legal provisions and collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that there is further improvement on the health matters. CONCLUSION 29 THANK YOU. 30