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Highlights |
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Disappointments |
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- No fatalities at Marula, Zimplats, Mimosa and Impala Springs
- 365 days without a lost-time injury at 5 Shaft and Impala Springs
- 1 Shaft and Zimplats achieves three million fatality-free shifts; 11 Shaft, 6 Shaft and Mimosa achieved two million each; and 12 Shaft – one million
- Significant increase in occupational health screenings
- Cure rate of over 80% for pulmonary TB maintained at Impala Rustenburg
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- 14 Shaft disaster in July 2009 when nine employees lost their lives
- Six other fatal incidents during the year
- Significant deterioration of lost-time injury frequency rate for Impala Rustenburg and Marula
- FIFR deteriorated by 50% from the previous financial year
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Management approach
A safety-conscious workforce that adheres to the Company’s rigorous safety standards and embraces the concept of zero tolerance to non-compliance is a key objective for Implats. The ongoing challenge the Group faces is changing the safety behaviour of everyone to one where safety and health is our first priority.
Safety and health at Implats is a function of line management, applied with the close involvement of employees and unions. A Group safety, health and environment executive guides the broader Group, while specialist safety and health personnel assist and guide the operations. A SHEQ Board committee reviews performance each quarter.
Recognised unions are fully involved in all aspects of managing safety and health – from policy development to detailed implementation. Over 5 700 full time and part time safety representatives are actively working with management in an effort to improve safety.
Each work area has a set of platinum rules. These are the cardinal rules of safety as breaches in these rules can result in serious injuries or fatalities. These rules are enforceable with disciplinary action.
Our vision is zero harm
Our goal is for each shaft and area to achieve zero lost-time injuries by 2012. To reach this significant goal, we have extended our safety and health programmes beyond the workplace to include road safety, and community safety and health. This will ensure that our employees recognise that safety and safe behaviour extends beyond the workplace and becomes a way of life. Several of our operating units have produced world-class safety performances (table page 131).
Performance in FY2010
While individual shafts and plants produced excellent safety performances during the year, overall our Group safety performance deteriorated significantly from the previous year.
The main reason behind the cause of accidents remains breaches in our safety rules and work procedures. This is being addressed by ensuring that all employees understand the rules and procedures and that they comply to these.
A planning meeting underground at 14 Shaft, Rustenburg
Although our safety performance has improved significantly over the past 10 years, the 14 Shaft accident and the deterioration in safety performance at the beginning of the year was unacceptable. We contracted Du Pont Safety Resources – the safety consulting division of the Du Pont Group – to review our safety systems and culture, and to benchmark these against world-class best practice as determined by Du Pont Safety Excellence framework. The review showed that our safety culture and that of all employees at all levels needs to change significantly in order for us to achieve world-class safety performance.
In addition to the Du Pont review, we commissioned an independent study on the external socio-cultural factors that affect management and employee behaviour in order for us to improve our safety programmes.
This study showed that the legacy and behaviour of South Africans in general toward discipline, alcohol and drug abuse, violence and the disease burden posed by the HIV epidemic could negatively affect safety behaviour at work and needs to be addressed in our safety initiatives programmes.
The major findings of the Du Pont study have been incorporated into our safety strategy and plans, which aim to change the behaviour of management and all employees to one where safety is considered to be the first priority.
Fatal accidents
We deeply regret to report that there were 15 fatalities at Implats operations in FY2010, (FY2009: 11 fatalities). Nine of these happened in a single tragic fall of ground at Impala Rustenburg detailed on the next page. Two people died after a methane explosion at Impala Rustenburg, two in other falls of ground incidents, and two in locomotive accidents. The Group’s FIFR deteriorated by 50% from the previous financial year.
Falls of ground accounted for 74% of our fatal incidents and to address this we have focused on the following areas:
- All of the bords in the trackless mining sections at Rustenburg have been reduced to six metres from 14 metres
- Special attention has been paid to training our employees in entry examinations and barring procedures
- Falls of ground incidents are investigated by independent teams to increase our understanding of the causes of these incidents in order to prevent recurrences
Injury rates
| Lost-time injury frequency rate |
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FY2010 |
FY2009 |
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| Impala Rustenburg |
5.35 |
3.63 |
| Impala Springs |
0.0 |
0.40 |
| Marula |
9.39 |
5.35 |
| Mimosa |
0.35 |
0.52 |
| Zimplats |
0.69 |
0.45 |
| Group |
4.61 |
2.92 |
The LTIFR deteriorated to 4.6 from 2.9 per million man-hours.
| Total injury frequency rate |
| (per million man-hours worked) |
FY2010 |
FY2009 |
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| Impala Rustenburg |
15.41 |
15.16 |
| Impala Springs |
20.60 |
20.01 |
| Marula |
41.25 |
28.88 |
| Mimosa |
3.74 |
5.45 |
| Zimplats |
3.61 |
5.49 |
| Group |
15.21 |
13.95 |
The TIFR (total injury frequency rate) per million man-hours worked deteriorated by 9% to 15.21 from 13.95.
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