International frameworks, national problems: mining OHS regulation in South Africa and Australia

Abstract

Effective occupational health and safety (OHS) regulation is a critical foundation for healthy and safe mining, but the nature of the risks and the diversity of the mining industry create particular challenges for OHS regulation and enforcement. Different national and legal contexts also introduce complexity for multinational operators. For all these reasons, mining OHS regulators must develop sophisticated approaches to enforcement that enable them to respond appropriately to the range of enforcement contexts in ways that are based on sound evidence about what works. Evidence reinforces the value of an approach to enforcement that combines strategies for both deterrence (punish) and compliance (persuade). Combined strategies are more likely to have impact and are also more likely to build organisational cultures that support effective OHS management. The South African mining industry should provide an ideal environment for effective OHS regulation in a developing country. The usual confounders of poor OHS performance are not apparent in the South African mining industry. However, OHS outcomes in the South African industry are far from exemplary. Barriers to regulatory change in South Africa include the economic importance of mining and payment systems both reducing the opportunity to mobilise pressure for change; investigation and monitoring systems (both internal and external) focussed on blame-seeking; risk acceptance in a nation with major public health concerns; failure to invest in technology reducing the practicability of risk controls; and much lower social expectations of working conditions, supported by high levels of racial and gender segmentation of the mining labour market.