Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (No. 176) - South Africa (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning the legislation giving effect to Articles 5(4)(a), and 9(d) of the Convention.

Article 5(3) of the Convention. Explosives and initiating devices. The Committee notes that the Regulations Relating to Explosives of 2006 under the Mine Health and Safety Act contain provisions requiring that the manufacture, storage and use of explosives at mines be carried out by authorized persons. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that, as required by Article 5(3) of the Convention, the transport of explosives and initiating devices at the mine is carried out by the competent and authorized persons, or by persons under their direct supervision.

Article 8. Emergency response plans. The Committee notes that Regulation 16.5 of the Mine Health and Safety Act requires that the employer at every underground mine provides, and maintains readily available, mine rescue teams, and that the mine must enter into a contract with a mine rescue service provider to coordinate and facilitate the provision of mines rescue teams and other services. Section 16.5(2) of the Regulation outlines the obligations of mines rescue service providers. However, the Committee observes that the Regulations do not appear to require the employer, or the mines rescue service provider, to prepare an emergency response plan. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that employers are required to prepare an emergency response plan, specific to each mine, for reasonably foreseeable industrial and natural disasters.

Article 13(1)(a)–(d), (2) and (3). Procedures established for the exercise of the rights of workers and their safety and health representatives. The Committee previously noted that the Mine Health and Safety Act specified the procedures for the exercise of the rights of workers outlined in Article 13(1)(e) and (f) of the Convention, and requested information on the procedures for the exercise of the rights referred to in Article 13(1)(a)–(d) and (2) of the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that one of the objectives of the Mine Health and Safety Act is to provide for employee participation in matters of health and safety through health and safety representatives and health and safety committees in mines. However, the Committee notes once again an absence of information in the Government’s report concerning the procedures for the exercise of the rights referred to in Article 13(1)(a)–(d), on the rights of workers, and Article 13(2), on the rights of safety and health representatives. In this regard, the Committee recalls that, pursuant to Article 13(3) of the Convention, procedures for the exercise of the rights referred to in Article 13(1) and (2) shall be specified by national laws and regulations and through consultations between employers and workers and their representatives. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the procedures established for the exercise, by workers in the mining sector, of the following rights: to report accidents, dangerous occurrences and hazards to the employer and to the competent authority (Article 13(1)(a)); to request and obtain, where there is cause for concern on safety and health grounds, inspections and investigations to be conducted by the employer and the competent authority (Article 13(1)(b)); to know and be informed of workplace hazards that may affect their safety or health (Article 13(1)(c)); and to obtain information relevant to their safety or health, held by the employer or the competent authority (Article 13(1)(d)). It also requests the Government to provide information on the procedures established for the exercise of the rights outlined in Article 13(2) of the Convention by safety and health representatives.