Any operational mine in South Africa can participate in the Mine Health and Safety Council Award Scheme. The Mine Health and Safety Council Award Scheme, which began in January 2000, replaced the previous Chamber of Mines Competition Scheme. If you are not already a member, register now.

A mine is only allowed to participate in one of the two main categories of the Mine Health and Safety Council Awards Scheme:

• The Millionaire's Award category

• The Thousand Fatality-Free Production Shifts Award category.

MHSC Award Scheme rules

The Mine Health and Safety Council Award Scheme is governed by a set of rules. A mine wishing to participate in the awards scheme administered by the Inspectorate must comply with the following rules:

• It must be registered as a mine with the Directorate: Mineral Economics of the Department of Mineral Resources;
• It must be in continuous operation for the qualifying period;
• Qualifying shifts commence from the date of registration with the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate;
• The manager must define the participating entity and this participating entity must be registered with the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate;
• A monthly report of labour and shifts must be submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources for each participating entity within the registered mine;
• The size of the participating entity will be limited (where possible) to a size where the participating entity will take approximately six months or more to qualify for one million fatality free shifts;
• Participating entities will be allowed to take part in one or more of the categories of the scheme with the following exception: a participating entity may take part in either the Millionaire Award or the Thousand Fatality-Free Production Shifts Award, but not both.
• The participating entity must be described on the registration form. The form must be submitted before a participating entity will be allowed to participate in the awards scheme.

Should a participant withdraw from an awards scheme, it may rejoin provided it complies with the rules.

Awards decisions rest with the Department of Mineral Resources

Any decision in connection with the awards scheme is vested in the Department of Mineral Resources. If a participant chooses to appeal against a decision, the matter will be referred to the Mine Health and Safety Council.

Award categories

• The Millionaire's Award category recognizes the milestone of achieving one million (1,000,000) fatality-free shifts on any mine. To be eligible to enter, a mine, or a portion thereof, must be in continuous operation and form a participating entity as defined by the manager.

• The Thousand Fatality-Free Production Shifts Award category recognizes the milestone of achieving one thousand (1,000) fatality-free production shifts on any mine. To be eligible for this award, a mine, or a portion thereof, must be operational and form a participating entity as defined by the manager.

• The Safety Achievement Flag is awarded to the mines that have the highest improvement in their allocated risk (days lost when comparing two consecutive three-year periods, the same periods that is used to calculate the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee Levy). The categories are pided into:

• Ultra-deep (deeper than 2,000m) gold and platinum mines;

• Shallow to deep (less than 2,000m) gold and platinum mines;

• Coal mines; and

• Other mines.

• Inpidual awards are presented to any inpidual, or a group of inpiduals (such as a mine rescue team or a mine safety committee) that has contributed to the overall health and safety programme of a mine in a manner that has led to a significant improvement in conditions at that mine may be nominated by the mine's manager or the employee representatives for an Inpidual Award. The Mine Health and Safety Council will assess the nomination and determine whether or not such a nomination is warranted. Any specific acts of bravery will also be considered for this award.

Definitions

Date of fatality:

The date on which the death occurs and not the date of the accident from which the fatality resulted

Fatality:

Refers to the death of an employee (including an employee from a contractor), which is the result of a mine accident that occurred not more than 12 months prior to the death, and which:

• Is ruled by the Chief Inspector of Mines as being due to a mining accident; and

• Is included in the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate safety statistics database.

Millionaire:

A participating entity that has one million or more consecutive fatality-free shifts to its credit.

Shift:

One working period worked by an employee, including contractors' employees, within the specified participating entity during a 24-hour period. The total of these shifts shall be as recorded by the Department of Mineral Resources from reports submitted by inpidual participating entities.

Participating entity: Consists of a registered mine, or a portion of a mine where:

• The boundary is defined by the manager; and

• Statistics relate to the fixed boundary.

* NOTE: Any change to the entity must be registered with the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate and shifts credited will revert to zero.

Production shift:

A full shift during which the participating entity was operational and when more than one shift per day is worked, each separate production shift during the twenty-four hour period will be recorded

Reportable accident:

This is as defined by Chapter 23 of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (Act 29 of 1996), as amended. The employer must report to the Principal Inspector of Mines in the manner prescribed in this chapter any accident at the mine that results in:

• The death of any employee;

• An injury, to any employee, likely to be fatal;

• Unconsciousness, incapacitation from heatstroke or heat exhaustion, oxygen deficiency, the inhalation of fumes or poisonous gas, or electric shock or electric burn accidents of or by any employee and which is not reportable in terms of;

a)An injury which either incapacitates the injured employee from performing that employee's normal or a similar occupation for a period totaling 14 days or more, or which causes the injured employee to suffer the loss of a joint, or a part of a joint, or sustain a permanent disability; or

b)An injury, other than injuries referred to in paragraph (d), which incapacitates the injured employee from performing that employee's normal or a similar occupation on the next calendar day.

Serious injury:

Is a reportable accident as contemplated in regulation 23.1 (a), (b), (c) and, (d) i.e. injuries resulting in death, permanent disability, 14 days plus off work, unconsciousness or incapacitation.

Lost-time injury:

Is an injury, other than injuries referred to above, which incapacitates the injured person from performing his normal or similar occupation for a period totaling one calendar day or more but less than 14 days. A lost-time injury is sum total of disabilities, serious injuries and lost time injuries for the purposes of this award scheme.