Abstract
The enforcement of Section 54 notices by the Department of Mineral and Resources (DMR) Inspector of Mines (IOM) on South African coal mines has been used as a primary tool to reduce the health and safety risk of mine employees. The resultant reduction of accidents in the mining industry is in itself a positive impact. However, the resultant stoppages triggered by the application of Section 54 instructions have resulted in certain cases with unintended impacts. There also remains a material difference between the Department of Labour Inspectors and the IOM. The main difference being the enforcement guidelines; the guideline for the Inspector from the Department of Labour has a clause instructing the Inspector of possible economic consequences in exercising their duties if they do not sparingly enforce the law. The DMR, as well as the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) , fail to caution the IOM in their enforcement of the law...
M.Tech. (Extraction Mettalurgy)