Zero injuries and fatalities in South African mines is what the tripartite partnership comprising global resource giant Anglo American, government and labour demand.

At a conference dubbed the Anglo Tripartite Safety Summit held on Tuesday, the department of minerals and energy, the National Union of Mineworkers and Anglo American committed themselves towards jointly attaining this goal.

"As a collective, we must work towards the attainment of zero injuries and fatalities," said Thabo Gazi, chief inspector of mines at the department of minerals and energy.

The summit declaration comes amid a spate of deaths in the local mining industry after five miners were killed in separate accidents at Gold Fields' Driefontein and South Deep gold mines on the West Rand on Tuesday, bringing the number of fatalities in local mines so far this year to 31.

"I want to stress my own commitment as head of Anglo American to helping drive the change in safety," said Anglo's CEO Cynthia Carroll.

Anglo American has indicated that it will shut down mine shafts — at a significant cost to production and the bottom line — where safety performance has not been up to its standards.

Last year, platinum miner Anglo Platinum — owned by Anglo American — suspended underground operations at its largest mine in Rustenburg for a week to implement measures to improve workers' safety after five workers died within two weeks.

A total of 40 people were killed across Anglo American operations last year, with 32 of those in South Africa — although the lowest on record, still a "shockingly high figure", according to Carroll.

So far this year, a total of nine people have been killed in Anglo American’s global operations — eight were in South Africa — compared with 17 fatalities during the same period last year.

The summit and its declaration — signed by all three parties — is touted as an essential tool to achieving a " breakthrough" in safety performance in Anglo American in South Africa.

"We hope that the commitments made by all stakeholders will be put into practice, and similar forums should be coordinated at different mine leadership levels," said Senzeni Zokwana, NUM's president.

NUM, the biggest union in the local mining sector with about 300 000 members, launched a health and safety strike in December last year that brought production at more than 50 companies to a standstill.

Although NUM has not publicly suggested that it would embark on further strikes if the safety of its workers were at risk, industrial action is the union’s most effective tool.

Government is also taking a tougher stance on mining companies that flout health and safety laws. Government can order mining companies to temporarily shut down mines where workers are killed to re-examine safety measures.

Meanwhile, the department of minerals and energy is conducting a safety audit, initiated by President Thabo Mbeki last year after more than 3000 workers were trapped underground during December in one of Harmony's mines.

"Safety is a human rights issue and should not be compromised," said Gazi.

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