Management approach

The achievement of zero harm – that is, no occupational accidents or illnesses, as well as the promotion of employee wellbeing – remains the vision for the group. The group’s safety and health policy statement was revised during the year.

Management of safety and health

The management of safety and health at Implats is a function of line management, applied with the close involvement of employees and unions. A group-level safety, health and environment executive provides guidance to the group, and specialist safety and health personnel provide the operations with assistance and guidance. A SHEQ Commitee, a sub-committee of the board, reviews performance on a quarterly basis.

Involvement of unions

As is required by legislation in both South Africa and Zimbabwe, and in terms of recognition agreements between the company and unions in South Africa, the involvement of unions in safety and health managements structures is fully provided for. Formal safety and health committees, comprising management and union representatives, are active at all operations. Full-time safety stewards and part-time safety representatives are elected by employees and receive comprehensive training which is provided by the company. As more than 70% of employees are unionised, a similar proportion are involved directly and indirectly in guiding the management on safety and health.

Agreements and indeed the committees cover a range of issues, including the election of safety representatives and safety stewards, procedures by which employees can exercise their rights to withdraw from circumstances that they perceive to be dangerous, the training and development of employees and safety representatives and stewards, and participation in incident investigations, among other issues.

Full and part time safety representatives

Operation	Full-time safety stewards	Part-time safety representatives
Impala Rustenburg	31	2 301
Impala Springs	–	58
Marula	1	145
Mimosa	–	82
Zimplats	–	114
Group	32	2 700

Compliance with legislation

In South Africa, amendments to the Mine Health and Safety Act tabled in FY2009 have far-reaching implications for safety and health management and, in particular, for the accountability of management for incidents. Additional measures and systems have been put in place to ensure alignment with the requirements of the amendments.

During the year, the Department of Minerals and Resources (DMR) imposed 46 instructions for the cessation of sections of operations, or entire operations, in terms of Section 54a of the Mine Health and Safety Act as a result of safety related issues and particularly following fatal incidents. This resulted in the loss of 126 days of production at Impala Rustenburg and six days at Marula. Implats’ operations engage proactively with the DMR on these closures and rapidly addressed issues raised by the DMR. In FY2008, there were 14 such instructions at Impala Rustenburg resulting in 26 days of lost production at various shafts, and two instructions at Marula resulting in the loss of six days of production.

A Section 54 instruction (later converted to a Section 55 instruction) was given to Impala’s Rustenburg operations in February 2009 as, in the opinion of the DMR, insufficient progress had been made with the rockdrill silencing programme. This programme was subsequently accelerated so as to address the DMR’s concern. In addition, counselling was provided for all employees whose hearing had deteriorated by more than 2.5%.

Recognition and awards
Impala Rustenburg	1 million fatality-free shifts – Processing in January 2009 1 million fatality-free shifts – 9 shaft, in February 2009 2 million fatality-free shifts – 1 shaft in May 2009
Impala Springs	7 million fatality-free shifts – in March 2009
Marula	1 million fatality-free shifts – November 2008 Best Lamproom Award Productivity Award
Mimosa	Achieved 1.5 million fatality-free shifts.
Zimplats	Ngezi mine underground first aid team was placed second in the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines National First Aid Competition in September 2008. Obtained ISO9001:2008 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certification at the first attempt in December 2008.

A co-operative approach to safety and health

A key feature of the year has been the increasing co-operation between management and labour in understanding the causes of injuries and developing strategies to mitigate these incidents in the future. A number of joint safety summits were held at the Impala Rustenburg operations and, for the first time ever, management and unions determined joint safety and health priorities and set targets. The priorities identified were the following:

• Creating and promoting a safety culture. A feature of this objective has been the extension of the conventional approach to safety in a mining environment (which involves the promotion of safety and health underground only) to a broader approach that looks at safety and health in all aspects of employees’ lives so as to deepen awareness and inculcate a culture of safety. Interventions that have taken place during the year include a surface road behaviour and vehicle condition campaign, and a campaign to eliminate drug and alcohol abuse. A new alcohol and drug policy developed in co-operation of unions, has been implemented.
• Renewed focus on safety and health training. An internal training audit revealed several shortcomings and opportunities regarding the training programme for employees returning from annual leave. Among the measures taken are steps to ensure that all employees and contractors attend this training.
• Continued focus on safety and health communication. An extensive range of media (billboards, text messaging, email, publications, posters and visible leadership) are used, so as to be able to reach all levels of employees in various languages whether they are literate or not. Following an audit on safety communication conducted during the year, measures have been introduced to ensure that health and safety committee meetings take place on a monthly basis and that more effective communication processes be implemented.
• Compliance with Five Platinum Rules. The Platinum Rules that were developed for and by different disciplines in 1997 were revised to ensure absolute clarity.
• Continued emphasis on visible leadership. The Tsiboga process (involving the alert meerkat) was revitalised during the year, and greater emphasis was placed on recognising outstanding safety performance by individuals and teams. A new ‘medal’ recognition system was put in place. (See below).

A new safety bonus system was implemented in the mining and processing areas in May 2009 to reward the performance of teams that achieve certain periods of time (90, 180, 270 and 360 days) without lost time injuries. There remains a strong link between the bonus system that was put in place for production in FY2008 (Ama-Ching-Ching) and safety performance so as to ensure that production is not seen to be more important than safety.

Performance in 2009

Key safety statistics

It is of great concern to the company that safety performance was well below the targets set. Implats recognises that there are a number of reasons for this, including:

• the lack of an over-riding culture of safety in the organisation and among all employees;
• the need to adopt a more holistic approach to the well-being of all team members;
• low levels of literacy among employees;
• the need to create a listening and enabling leadership;
• the need for a safety value system; and
• the lack of enforcement through disciplinary procedures.

Key safety statistics in FY2009

Operation	Reportable injuries	Lost time injuries	Restricted work cases	Medical treatment cases	Total non-lost-time injurie
Impala Rustenburg	251	340	151	939	1087
Impala Springs	2	2	3	94	97
Marula	17	40	47	129	176
Mimosa	0	5	5	42	47
Zimplats	7	7	13	65	78
Group	277	394	219	1269	1485

Fatal accidents

It is with deep regret that Implats reports that there were 11 fatalities at its operations in FY2009 (FY2008: 12 fatalities), 10 of these at the Impala Rustenburg operations and one at Marula. A range of causes can be attributed, without a single cause dominating.

FIFR (per million hours worked)

	FY2009	FY2008
Impala Rustenburg	0.11	0.06
Impala Springs	0.00	0.00
Marula	0.13	0.37
Mimosa	0.00	0.19
Zimplats	0.00	0.13
Group	0.08	0.10

In Memoriam

The following people died in the course of work during FY2009. Implats extends condolences to their families, friends and colleagues.

Name	Operation	Date	Home
Thabo Tshose	Impala 11 shaft	30 July 2008	Chaneng Village, North West Province
Arone James Makhobosi	Impala 16 shaft	3 August 2008	Kanana Village, North West Province
Bongani Qhuqhani	Impala 10 shaft	26 August 2008	Mfidikwe Village, North West Province
Moeketsi Sebotsa	Impala 11 shaft	17 September 2008	Klerksdorp, North West Province
Thethani Sorry Phondoyi	Impala 12 shaft	14 October 2008	Queenstown, Eastern Cape
Tshepo Mazibuko	Impala 20 shaft	27 November 2008	Mafikeng, North West Province
Mkhawuleni Zulu	Impala 14 shaft	7 January 2009	Kwasiwela Village, KwaZulu Natal
Romeu Francisco Chivale	Impala 14 shaft	16 February 2009	Massinga, Mozambique
Tobias Nelson Khameni	Impala 10 shaft	21 March 2009	Mqanduli, Eastern Cape
Mamonwana Jacob	Impala 2 shaft	14 April 2009	Hartebeestfontein, Montwedi, North West Province
Lazarus Mashabela	Marula Clapham Shaft	21 May 2009	Mashishi Village, Limpopo Province

A tragedy at Impala Rustenburg’s 14 shaft on 20 July 2009 claimed the lives of the following people. Implats extends condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of these men.

Sithembisile Foxo	Mdwaka Village, Mqanduli, Eastern Cape
Jotata Gitywa	Nenga Village, Mqanduli, Eastern Cape
Albert Machubeni	Digetlane Village, Matatiele – Mount Fletcher, Eastern Cape
Ofentse Zacharia Mafora	Dinokana, Zeerust, North West
Mziwonke Matandabuzo	Lekhuni Village, Lebote, Eastern Cape
Phindisingaki Mvuleni Mbhamali	Bhanganoma Village, Mqanduli, Eastern Cape
Bethuel Karabo Rakoma	Thabaneng, Lerome Village, Rustenburg, North West
Sechache Coronea Ramonyatsi	Khakhathane, Mohaleshoek, Lesotho
Tsollana Tshatsha	Esunwane Village, Idutywa, Eastern Cape

Injury rates

The group has expanded its data collation and reporting to include restricted work cases (RWC). This is in line with the international trends and also enables the company to more accurately benchmark its safety performance against that of its peers. A RWC is defined as a work-related injury which results in the employee being able to return to his or her permanently assigned work place, to perform his or her permanently assigned work on the next calendar day, but where the injured person is unable to perform one or more of the routine functions normally connected with their work due to a restriction applied by an appointed medical professional. Until the end of FY2008, Implats recorded RWCs together with Medical Treatment Cases (MTC) in its statistical data. Since the start of FY2009, the group has recorded RWCs separately from MTCs.

LTIFR (per million man hours worked)

Operation	FY2009	FY2008
Impala Rustenburg	3.63	3.80
Impala Springs	0.40	0.21
Marula	5.35	1.24
Mimosa	0.52	0.88
Zimplats	0.45	0.69
Group	2.92	2.92

The FIFR for the group improved by 13.7%, from 0.095 to 0.082 per million hours worked. The LTIFR remained unchanged at 2.92 per million man hours, the RWC was 1.61 and the MTCR improved by 21% from 14.05 to 9.41 per million man hours worked. The TIFR (total injury frequency rate) improved by 17.8%, from 16.96 to 13.94.

TIFR (per million man hours worked)

Operation	FY2009	FY2008
Impala Rustenburg	15.16	16.09
Impala Springs	20.01	24.31
Marula	28.48	45.09
Mimosa	5.45	7.51
Zimplats	5.49	9.69
Group	13.94	16.97

Management of occupational health

A comprehensive occupational health screening and medical treatment service is available to all employees across the group. These services are delivered either through site-based clinics and company or contracted occupational health centres, company hospitals and contracted specialists. In line with the group’s policy that all employees should have access to affordable and appropriate health care for themselves and their dependants, all employees have access to a medical aid or a company facility on a voluntary basis. The level of service provided in terms of these facilities may be selected and budgeted for by employees.

Medical surveillance examinations (FY2009)

	Pre-placement	Periodic	Exit	Total
Impala Rustenburg	10 261	32 832	6 190	49 283
Impala Springs	1447	1 601	232	3 280
Marula	922	1 491	297	2 710
Mimosa	343	142	2	487
Zimplats	729	821	64	1 614
Group	13 702	36 887	6 785	57 374

Key health statistics

Occupational health surveillance

Occupational health surveillance on all employees and contractors is undertaken, at least annually. These examinations ensure that employees are deemed to be fit for work in their specific environments and occupations, and that occupational disease is detected and treated, as far as this is possible, at an early stage.

Where occupational illness is detected, every effort is made to relocate the affected employee to a less risky area in terms of their specific risk profile. In addition to occupational illness, other lifestyle diseases – such as hypertension and diabetes - are also monitored. In FY2009, more than 57 000 occupational screening examinations were undertaken across the group.

Primary occupational health risks

The two primary occupational health risks at Implats’ operations are noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). In South Africa, TB is considered an occupational illness if it is associated with exposure to dust. The high level of HIV & AIDS in South Africa has a detrimental impact on TB as infected employees’ immune systems are compromised, which increases their risk of contracting TB; around 73% of newly diagnosed TB patients are HIV-positive.

Heat stress and exposure to heavy metals are potential risks in certain occupations. Another occupational illness, silicosis, is occasionally detected among employees, but this is typically as a consequence of those employees having worked previously in the gold mining industry, where silicosis is a risk. Four cases were detected amongst employees at Impala Rustenburg.

All new cases of occupational illness detected at the South African operations are submitted to the relevant bodies for verification and, if verified, for compensation.

Tuberculosis

TB continues to present a significant health risk to employees. In FY2009, 426 new cases of pulmonary TB were detected, an increase of 29.5% on the 329 new cases identified the prior year. Treatment in line with the World Health Organization’s Directly Observed Treatment Supervision (DOTS) protocol was initiated in all cases that were detected. At Impala Rustenburg, the company reports a cure rate of above 80% for pulmonary TB. Four new cases of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and the first case of Extreme Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB) were detected during the year. All five patients were admitted to a specialist TB hospital.

New pulmonary TB cases treated at Implats facilities

Operation	FY2009	FY2008
Impala Rustenburg	380	286
Impala Springs	5	3
Marula	12	12
Mimosa	15	22
Zimplats	14	6
Group	426	329

NIHL

In FY2009, 45 new cases of NIHL were detected, 44 of these at the Impala Rustenburg operations. (FY2008: 31 new cases).

Hearing conservation programmes are in place at all Implats’ operations. A programme to reduce noise levels at source to below 110dBA progressed during the year. By year-end, 92% (of S215) noisy rockdrills in the underground environment had been silenced. An unfortunate consequence of the rockdrill silencing programme has been the loss in drilling performance, both real and perceived. Wilful damage to the silenced rockdrills by employees has been detected, presumably in an effort to improve performance. To counteract this, a programme to educate employees on the benefits of silencing rockdrills has begun, and formal disciplinary action against culprits has been implemented. By year-end the number of such incidents had significantly decreased.

Customised hearing protection devices are provided to all employees who are at risk to further reduce noise levels to below 85dBA. An important part of this programme is the education of employees as individual non-compliance (that is, not wearing hearing protection devices) is a significant contributing factor to hearing loss.

New cases of NIHL diagnosed at Implats

Operation	FY2009	FY2008
Impala Rustenburg	44	31
Impala Springs	0	0
Marula	1	0
Mimosa	0	0
Zimplats	0	0
Group	45	31

Heat stress

No cases of heat stress were reported in FY2009. Heat is a potential issue, particularly in the deeper underground mining operations in Rustenburg, where the thermal gradient of the virgin rock is significant. While underground working areas are cooled to the levels required for safe work (average 28oC wet bulb temperature), employees are further protected through the use of regular heat tolerance screening and heat acclimatisation programmes, where these are necessary.

Biological monitoring

Biological monitoring of employees who may be exposed to chromium, arsenic, carbon disulphide, cadmium, nickel, platinum salts and lead is undertaken. In the past year, no results were found to be outside the normal range.

Cholera

In late 2008, a cholera epidemic struck Zimbabwe, but its impact on our employees and their dependants was well contained. Five employees were reported to have contracted the illness and were successfully treated. An extensive education campaign was embarked upon and treated water was provided to employees and their families by the company.

Objectives for FY2010

• To significantly reduce all accidents, in particular, the LTIFR and fatal accidents.
• To eliminate the incidence of new cases of NIHL.
• To significantly reduce the incidence of TB and to maintain the effective DOTS programme.