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BusinessLive reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has scored a court victory to force the mining regulator and industry to tighten measures around the safety of staff returning to work from lockdown.
The trade union took the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) and the chief inspector of mining to the Labour Court in Johannesburg to require tighter regulations governing health and safety for returning workers. On 16 April, the government allowed SA’s mines to return to 50% of capacity under the lockdown conditions implemented from 27 March. Amcu argued before the court that the rules governing the return to work and the safety protocols were inadequate and demanded a more comprehensive set of standards that would apply to the entire industry equally. On Friday, Judge André van Niekerk ruled that decisions by chief inspector of mining David Msiza made so far around the codes of practice be set aside. Msiza was ordered to gazette a notice no later than 18 May to give fresh guidelines in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act and to require employers to “prepare and implement a code or codes of practice to mitigate the effect of the outbreak of Covid-19 on the health and safety of employees and persons who may be directly affected by the disease at the mine.” He was ordered to publish guidelines for public comment by 11 May after broad consultations.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Allan Seccombe at BusinessLive
- Read too, Mines ready for new safety rules, though unions want more, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page