Safety

FIU is committed to providing a zero-harm environment at its operations.

Post year-end, the Ezulwini Mining Company (Pty) Limited (EMC) has achieved one million fatality-free shifts in April 2009. Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) has progressed well towards this goal.

Legal appointments for each operation have been completed, as well as the appointment of subordinate managers for each section of the operations in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 (MHSA).

Employees at all operations undergo a mandatory safety induction and medical examination prior to the commencement of duties. This training covers all standard safety procedures as well as procedures for the handling of various hazardous substances in use. Annual refresher courses are also compulsory.

Monthly talk topics are aimed at improving safety awareness at all operations while a range of safety training is conducted both on and off-site.

In 2010, a strong focus was again placed on SAMREC-approved safety training courses, which covered a wide range of safety topics, such as the correct use of power tools and safety equipment, to accident investigation, fire fighting and radiation awareness.

Internal safety audits were carried out at all operations in the course of the year, while independent audits were conducted at selected operations by the DMR, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), as well as various external agencies.

At MWS, a total of 27 internal audits were conducted by a five-person internal audit team. Annual audits of the contracting team operating in the MWS expansion area were also conducted.

The DMR conducted two safety audits at MWS, one on the plant expansion area and the other at the existing plant and associated operations. A review of compliance with applicable mandatory codes of practice as contemplated in Section 9 of the MHSA was also conducted by the DMR in November of 2009. The operations were found to be compliant, with only a few minor exceptions which have subsequently been rectified.

The chief safety officer conducts random daily audits at the EMC, given that construction and mining have been taking place in tandem over the past year. The NNR has conducted two audits over the past three months on selected elements of the Certificate of Registration. The audit revealed that special attention needs to be paid to the classification of zones in accordance with the potential radiation hazards, signposting of radiation areas and the installation of a dosimetry system to monitor radiation levels in visitors. The EMC had three DME audits and the results were generated in a risk log to ensure follow-up and compliance.

Risk assessments

FIU has made good progress in incorporating its risk assessments into the Electronic Business Management System (EBMS), and the SHEQ DATA AND CORRECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SHEQ DTM) in order to raise quality controls within each operation as they relate to the management and compliance of legal, financial and technical risk-management measures.

Both the EBMS and SHEQ DTM are web-based tools designed to monitor and assess business processes. While the EBMS acts as an electronic library documenting all business processes relevant to the organization, the SHEQ DTM helps to control, monitor and ensure close-out of all identified issues related to these processes. It also controls all actions and related reporting for the documented processes. Training in the use of these models is ongoing at all operations.