OccupationaL hygiene reporting
Section 12 of the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended, provides that every employer in the South African mining industry must engage the part-time or full-time services of a person qualified in occupational hygiene techniques to measure the levels of exposure to hazards at mines in South Africa.
Every system of occupational hygiene measurements must consider the hazards to which the employees at the mine are, or may be exposed to, and the records of all occupational hygiene measurements should be maintained in such a manner that it can be linked to the record of each employee.
The South African mining industry has a legislative obligation to submit the Download resources as prescribed in regulation 9.2(2) of the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended and should cover the immediately preceding 12 months.
The Download resources on the monitoring of personal exposure to various occupational hygiene stressors must be submitted to the respective Principal Inspectors at the regional offices of the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate before the end of February of each year.
Contact us: mhsi@dmpr.gov.za
Occupational hygiene stressors
Occupational hygiene is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control and confirmation with regard to the protection of workers against exposures to hazards or stressors. The risk from a stressor is a function of the identified hazard and the type of exposure to the individual or the group.
Airborne pollutants
The South African mining industry has a legislative obligation to submit the Download resources as prescribed in regulation 9.2(2) of the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended. The monitoring of personal exposure to thermal stress is conducted on an annual cycle in compliance with the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended and must be submitted to the respective Principal Inspectors at the regional offices of the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate before the end of February of each year.
The exposure classification band for thermal stress (heat) are:
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BAND A
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Exposures ³ the OEL or mixture of exposures ³ 1
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BAND B
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50% of the OEL £ exposures < OEL or 0.5 £mixtures of exposures < 1
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BAND C
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10% of the OEL £ exposures < 50% of the OEL or 0.1 £ mixtures of exposures < 0.5
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BAND D
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Exposures < 10% of the OEL or mixture of exposures < 0.1
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The classification into a category is based on the 90th percentile personal exposure value of specific pollutant concentrations with the understanding that pollutants do not have an addictive effect. In cases where employees in a HEG are exposed to different pollutants that target and affect the same organ, the 90th percentile personal exposure value of the specific pollutant concentrations is considered or an air quality index is calculated, whichever is greater.
The air quality index is obtained by dividing the concentration of each pollutant targeting and affecting the same organ by its respective OEL. The results are then added together to obtain a value that can be compared with an OEL of one. An HEG can be categorised as:
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CATEGORY A
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Where the value of the mixture of exposures ≥ 1
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CATEGORY B
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Where the value of the mixture of exposures ≥ 0.5 and <1
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CATEGORY C
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Where the value of the mixture of exposures ≥ 0.1 and < 0.5
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In gathering information to determine the annual exposure to airborne pollutants (including dust, fumes, aerosols, gases, fibres, vapours or mists), the percentage of employees exposed to each airborne pollutant is calculated for each category band per commodity.
Contact us: mhsi@dmpr.gov.za
Noise
The South African mining industry has a legislative obligation to submit the Download resources as prescribed in regulation 9.2(2) of the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended.
The monitoring of personal exposure to noise is conducted on an annual cycle in compliance with the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended and must be submitted to the respective Principal Inspectors at the regional offices of the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate before the end of February of each year.
The occupational exposure limit for noise is 85 dB(A) based on an eight-hour exposure shift.
The exposure classification bands for noise are:
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BAND A
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Exposures ³ 105 dB LAeq, 8h
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BAND B
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85 dB LAeq, 8h £ exposures < 105 dB LAeq, 8h
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BAND C
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82 dB LAeq, 8h £ exposures < 85 dB LAeq, 8h
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Contact us: mhsi@dmpr.gov.za
Thermal stress
The South African mining industry has a legislative obligation to submit the Hygiene Statutory Return Report Form [21.9(2)(f)] as prescribed in regulation 9.2(2) of the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended.
The monitoring of personal exposure to thermal stress is conducted on an annual cycle in compliance with the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 as amended and must be submitted to the respective Principal Inspectors at the regional offices of the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate before the end of February of each year.
The exposure classification band for thermal stress (heat) are:
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BAND A
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Wet bulb (WB) > 32.5°C or DB > 37.0°C or globe temperature > 37.0°C
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BAND B
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29.0°C < WB £ 32.5°C and DB £ 37.0°C globe temperature as for DB
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BAND C
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27.5°C < WB £ 29.0°C and DB £ 37.0°C globe temperature as for DB
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BAND D
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WB £ 27.5°C and DB £ 32.5°C globe temperature as for DB
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The exposure classification band for thermal stress (cold) are:
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BAND A
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Temperature ³ -30.0°C
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BAND B
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5.0°C £ temperature < -30.0°C
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BAND C
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Temperature > 5.0°C
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The employer must ensure that, in defining any thermal environment, the precautions listed below are heeded to:
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This is clearly indicated by regular monitoring, even if only on a random basis, and ‘cool’ environments should not be excluded, especially when marginal.
The environmental monitoring should take into account that seasonal changes could be crucial and relying on winter temperatures may lead to an underestimation of the risk and vice versa. Adequate and appropriate control measures should be provided during cold seasons and potable water should be made available to employees during very hot conditions.
Contact us: mhsi@dmpr.gov.za
Self-contained self-rescuers
A self-contained self-rescuer [SCSR] is a portable oxygen source that provide breathable air in a closed circuit, when activated. These devices supply many mine workers with oxygen in incidences of underground fires or explosions. It provides mine workers with an opportunity to escape the hazardous location.
The Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate developed a guideline for the South African mining industry to manage all aspects associated with the deployment of self-contained self-rescuers. Further to this guideline, the South African mining industry are guided by the Download resources as well as Download resources and Download resources of the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate.
As directed by the Chief Inspector of Mines, the Self-contained Self-rescuer Testing Laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR] is the only accredited testing authority in South Africa that monitors self-contained self-rescuers.
The testing, monitoring and reviewing of self-contained self-rescuers deployed in the South African mining industry are done from 1 January - 31 December of each year and a Download resources is published.
Contact us: mhsi@dmpr.gov.za