By James Mutasa

Stakeholders in the mining industry have vowed to scale up safety standards in the wake of rising accidents.

Speaking during the Association of Mine Managers of Zimbabwe (AMMZ) annual conference recently held in Victoria Falls, the Chamber’s Safety, Health and Enviroment (SHE) committee representative Butholezwe Dube said the department was working towards reducing mining accidents.

He said the initiative was meant to bolster leadership to achieve sustainable resource stewardship, addressing biodiversity and climate change, and capacity development that enhances capacity and competency.

“To achieve compliance obligation across the mining industry, the SHE committee works in close liaison with regulatory bodies such as Environment Management Agency, National Social Security Authority, Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe and Ministry of Mines and Mining Development,” Dube said.

“Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the SHE committee resumed all its activities. AMMZ SHE audits are critical in our continual improvement initiatives. The audits were conducted in May 2023 and 17 companies and four smelting and processing facilities participated in the audits. This was a good start considering that we were coming from (COVID-19) lockdowns.”

Large-scale mining operations contributed 18 percent of total accidents reported in the period under review, illegal mining operations contributed 22 percent while the small-scale mining industry contributed 60 percent.

The SHE committee of the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CMZ) said they would be carrying out extensive safety audits at mining companies to stem accidents in the industry.

According to CMZ, 110 fatal accidents mostly underground occurrences claiming 120 lives were reported from January to July 2023, compared to 106 fatal accidents during the same period last year.

Dube added that the committee was working on the “Mine Rescue Competition”, an important programme meant to maintain a high level of emergency preparedness and ensuring personnel and machinery were safe after a disaster.

The SHE expert said the committee would also revive the participation of regional countries in the competition to promote the idea that “Zero Harm” was possible in the industry.