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BusinessLive reports that the deaths of two workers at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix gold mine in October 2020 were due to the negligence of a “shift boss” who ignored safety warnings.
The Labour Court (LC) has found that the deaths could have been prevented had operations supervisor Alice Makhetha followed the group’s safety protocols. Makhetha was tasked with ensuring safety protocols and job regulations were adhered to consistently, with a particular emphasis on upholding rules of safety for underground drilling and blasting operations. Makhetha was obliged to issue a written “stop and fix instruction”, which effectively would have resulted in a work stoppage until safety issues brought to her attention were resolved. On the morning of the incident, tragedy struck when the work crew working on an unsafe panel continued drilling and blasting the panel, leading to a collapse that claimed the lives of two miners and left another severely injured. An investigation by Sibanye pointed the finger at Makhetha, who was then charged and faced a disciplinary hearing. The hearing found her guilty of having failed to implement all the safety measures required by the company. The CCMA later set aside the disciplinary hearing’s findings. Sibanye last week successfully petitioned the LC to set aside the CCMA’s award. “I am satisfied that the evidence, considered as a whole, showed that Makhetha indeed committed the misconduct as contemplated by the charge against her, she had been found guilty of. She failed to ensure that safety instructions given to her were carried out, and failed to ensure that the substandard safety conditions were rectified before work continued on the panel. She should have issued a stop instruction, which would have ensured that the safety concerns would be remedied, before any work on the panel could even start,” the LC judge found.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kabelo Khumalo at BusinessLive
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