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Aspasa/Sarma committed to the future of the industry The last quarter has been a demanding one for Aspasa and Sar-
ma, with strategic planning sessions held for both organisations
over a two-day period in mid-July, as well as regional meetings
around the country; and last but not least, a mutually beneficial
meeting with the Chief Inspector of Mines. Dale Kelly writes:
atural aggregate is one of the nation's most poorly
understood resources, and the continuous work done
by Aspasa/Sarma in promoting an environmentally
sound and sustainable industry is often not truly understood
by the industries it serves.
The strategic planning meetings were held in mid-July
with the first session for Sarma taking place on Friday 15
July, followed by the Aspasa meeting the following day. The
meetings were extremely well attended on both days with the
agenda prepared long before the event took place. Prior to
the meeting, a survey had been sent out asking the industry
to highlight the challenges it wanted to discuss, and this was
followed by a meeting with an outside facilitatorto highlight
the issues raised by the industry.
Beneficiation/transformation was on the agenda;together
with legal; training and education; standards and accredita-
tion; influencers, stakeholders and the image of industry; and
growth of sustainability.
"We covered a lot of documentation in the strategic plan-
ning sessions," says Aspasa/Sarma director Nico Pienaar. "In
the two days that this was held, the attendees broke up into
groups and prioritised the challenges facing the industry."
Discussing the strategic challenges over the two days,
Table 1: Prioritisation of strategic challenges.
Pienaar says that what was incredible was the fact that in
the two sessions held on different days, training was the first
priority for both Sarma and Aspasa.
Sarma priorities
"For Sarma, we are going to have to talk to the training provid-
ers for readymix," Pienaar says. Standards and accreditation,
which are the audits and standards for readymix, came up
as the second point for Sarma, followed by the image of the
industry, legal issues, growth and sustainability and finally,
structural issues.
Aspasa priorities
For Aspasa, the second priority was influences, stakeholders
and the image of industry. "There is a lot of work to be done
there," he says. "Legal issues came in third, with growth and
stability coming in at No 6, while structural issues at No 7,
is something that will have to be discussed at the Aspasa
Mancom."
Other issues up for discussion by both the Mancoms
include: Hosting an Aspasa/Sarma conference, inviting stakehold-
ers, eg, SANRAL, consulting engineers, DMR, ere, with pos-
sible breakaway sessions. UKtraining modules forquarrying.There is a lot of excellent
material available in these e-learning programmes, and a
decision needs to be made on what material is usable, and
what can be adapted to South African standards. Review equity holding and employment equity status of
Aspasa members, and publicise and market this by sharing
success stories.
Set up regional projects led by Aspasa,and the DMR struc-
ture for channeling of SLP activities.
Review standards/specifications - chal- lenge status quo before SABS releases new
standards.The SABS is changing to European
standards, which could be either good or
bad for the industry.
How to encourage new members to join.
Appearance of motor vehicles. This could
cover the spillage on roads which seems to
be on the increase in Gauteng particularly.
What was of particular interest to Modern Quar-
rying, is the recently-held meeting between
--._---- -- --- - - Sarma Aspasa
-- - 1. Training and education 1. Training and education
2. Standards and accreditation 2. Influences, stakeholders and image
3.lmage of industry/external stakeholders 3. Legal issues
4. Legal issues 4. Beneficiation/transformation
5. Growth and sustainability 5. Stakeholders and accreditation
6. Structural issues 6. Growth and sustainability
7. Structural issues
N
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2. 3.
Aspasa and the then Acting Chief Inspector of Mines, David
Msiza (who has subsequently been appointed to the post).
Attendance by industry representatives was excellent with
members from the KZN, North East, Mpumalanga, and Lim-
popo regions, and as far afield as the Transkei. Companies
included Afrimat, Lafarge Cement/RMC, WG Wearne, AfriSam,
Clay Brick Association,ACMp, Drift Supersand, Rietspruit Crush-
ers, 3Q Concrete and Transkei Quarries.
"We combined our representation with Aspasa and the
Clay Brick Association, and the ACMp, and this was chaired by
Avi Bhoora, the Aspasa chairperson," Pienaar says."We had a
preparation meeting the day before our discussion with the
Chief Inspector, who was extremely receptive to our concerns."
The Aspasa chairperson opened up the meeting by saying
that the industry body attendees represented infrastructure
building which, although in mining, are different to that of
gold, platinum, diamonds and coal mining."And I think that
the DMR agrees with us.We then asked the Chief Inspector of
Mines what the DMR requires us to focus on, and one of the
first comments made was that we have to appoint competent
managers, and we agree with that.
"We can't appoint managers who don't understand our
health and safety and environmental legislation. We have to
appoint competent managers and this could be regulated in
the future. In mines, one has to have a certified manager, but
in quarries, this requirement is not yet compulsory in South
Africa, while it is in European countries.
"Blasting is also a problem,"Pienaar says,"and this is some-
thing we need to resolve as an industry. Our industry bodies
also need to assist in sorting out health and safety issues. If
there is a constant problem, we need to assist in sending out
circulars and do training." He cites machine guarding and
transport issues as a major focus, because people are still
being injured, or even worse, killed.
The Mining Charter requires a health and safety focus.and
Aspasa's health and safety audit is doing well in this regard.
"We need to take communities into consideration, and also,
industry bodies need to assist with skills development. We, as
an industry, need to sit down and discuss how we are going
to improve on this, and create a
culture of caring for our work-
ers and communitie's that are
sustainable."
. Another important point
raised was that industry needs
to discuss and resolve Section
54s in the regions, firstly with
the Principle Inspector and
then escalate this to the Chief
Inspector, if necessary."We need
to create healthy relationships
with our inspectors and move
from somewhat of a negative
handling of Section 54s, to a
more positive one,"Pienaar says.
"We also need to focus on
becoming more health and
safety conscious. The Chief Inspector explained that he gets
called to parliament, where he has to answer for the fact
that investors are not keen to do business in the country,
due to our safety statistics. The perception is that the mining
industry kills people in South Africa, and the way the public
has reacted to certain mining licences, particularly recently in
the coal industry, has impacted on the Department as welL"
Aspasa members have been very fortunate in that the ISHE
audit protocol focuses on mining legal requirements and best
practices for the industry.
Industry must ensure that accurate figures are submitted
to the Department, such as dust monitoring, for example.
"There are people that come around and charge a lot of
money to do the dust monitoring, who firstly are not qualified,
and secondly don't do it properly. Causes of deaths must be
addressed, and often the same problems are repeated again
and again, with a focus on the trackless mobile problem.
"Occupational hygienists must be qualified. Check to see
if the person or company you are employing is qualified.You
are not going to take medication from an unqualified GP, so
why use the services of an incompetent hygienist?" Pienaar
--:,:
/
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Effective machine guarding is a bugbear of the Aspasa ISHE auditor. All reach-
able pulleys must be equipped with effective guards, which means that a
person must not be able to reach to any nip point between the pulley and the -
belt of the installation.
asks."COPs need to be done properly and employee records
must be available at the point of the mining licence."
Medical contractors often don't put the name of the quarry
on their submissions, which causes problems for the DMR.
They must use the operation's details and not only their own,
as they are not the mining licence holder. On illegal mining,
this must be reported to the regional offices. "We are doing
that and it is working well," he says. "We have closed down
quite a few operations in the Free State already. We need
'whistle blowers' and Aspasa is available in this regard.
"On the engineers per quarry issue, we must talk to the
Principle Inspector,and apply for exemptions, if necessary. For
confined spaces, do a risk assessment and then decide. Mine
residue needs to be explained to the Principal Inspector, and
a decision taken." Pienaar says the Aspasa ISHE audit is seen
as a leading practice, and members must ensure that inspec-
tors are invited to attend the audits and regional meetings.
"In turn, the DMR will meet with industry on a regular basis,
also in the various regions, where we can sit down and discuss
the problems we may be experiencing. Legal prosecutions
will start taking place and it is important to understand that
to date, people haven't been prosecuted for not abiding by
the legislation.
"The DMR will work on consistency and transparency in
industry and safe mining. What we said here, is that there
is sometimes a different ihterpretation in the regions. The
inspectors will use the same template when doing inspec-
tions as a guideline, and we must keep to the slogan 'mine
safely or stop mining'. Another complaint was that inspectors
sometimesmake appointments and don't keep them.we have
been asked to report this to the DMR.
"MHSC will deal with the engineers and the 2 500 kW issue,
and the DMR will let us have their regular newsletters and
keep us informed of other important concerns. The Depart-
ment will also ask regional offices to arrange regional forum
meetings and invite the various associations.
"All in all,a very positive meeting with the Chief Inspector,
who was impressed with us because we are doing something
positive as an industry body. We try and self-regulate our
industry, so that we have a clean image. It is no use pointing
fingers if your own house in not in order, and we are saying
that we must do this, and much more," Pienaar says.
Regional meetings
This year's regional meetings have been the biggest success
that Aspasa/Sarma has ever had.There are six regions in which
the two organisations operate, and due to various reasons, it
was decided to combine the Gauteng, North East and Free
State regional meeting, which meant that this year, there were
only four regional meetings. This year, the meetings took the
form of workshops, with papers presented by various speakers
~CU5
and discussion and questions were encouraged.
The Eastern Cape meeting on 19 August was well attended,
with the main sponsor being PPC combined with Sika's usual
support. Professor Piet Naude from the Nelson Mandela Uni-
versity dealt with the subject of business intelligence in the
21 st century, and covered the world in which we work and live,
highlighting the following:
Leaders must acquire global intelligence as we live in a
global village.
Leaders also require ecological intelligence broken up into
various issues, such as economic, social and environment .
The economic issue again to be broken into financial,
infrastructure and human issues.
The leadership needs to focus on ethical intelligence (trust
and ethics) and also leadership requires imaginative intel-
ligence.
Pienaar provided feedback on the issues discussed at the
strategic session as well as feedback on the meeting with
the Chief Inspector of Mines; the C&CI's Petrus Jooste gave
a comprehensive presentation on available concrete and
readymix training; and Greg Steele from Master Builders As-
sociation in the Eastern Cape,did a presentation on the state
of the building industry in the region, taking all the possible
influences into consideration.
Andrew Crickmay from Crickmay Associates explained self
regulation of fleets and gave case studies of how the timber
and sugar cane industries in KZN had overcome the issue of
overloading, thereby reducing fines and wear and tear on
vehicles; and Richard Tomes from PPC gave a comprehensive
report on the future of cement in SA, some of the problems
experienced and the threats affecting the industry. Finally
Sarma Shreq auditor, Pieter du Preez, explained how the audit
process worked and what is important and focused upon. One
of the problem areas raised was that of the credit facilities and
misuse of some clients in getting credit.
This meeting was also well attended by DMR officials.
The Western Cape meeting was held at the Two Oceans
Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront, with the main sponsor be-
ing AfriSam,and eo-supported by Sika.Again, the attendance
was exceptional.
Sanral's Kobus van der Wait gave an excellent talk on ag-
gregate requirements in the Western and Northern Cape. He
said that due to the legislative requirements to 'mine; Sanral
would prefer to use established quarries. Advocate Gesie van
Deventer, the Executive Mayor of Drakenstein in the Western
Cape, stressed the issue of the upliftmentof communities and
that the town needed to be claimed back from those who
have run these communities down. What was needed was
clever thinking, making towns attractive and neat people
must want to stay in them, and in so doing, creating honest
jobs and dealing with community projects. She said, at the
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4. 5. 6.
end of the day, housing is needed for people to have value
in themselves and in their communities.
Again the Aspasa/Sarma director gave a short feedback;
followed by PPCs Justin Meth's informative presentation on
empowering and upliftment of communities, which tied in
with Advocate van Deventer's thinking. PetrusJooste from the
C&CI spoke about training; and BEE Verification specialist Dr
Willem Mostert, covered the impacts on industry seen from
the Amended Mining Charter.This was followed by presenta-
tions from Andrew Crickmay and Pieter du Preez.
The Gauteng meeting on 2 September, was hosted by
Afrimat's Glen Douglas and again Sika was on board, with
excellent attendance from members in the region.
Letisha van den Berg from AfriSam gave a very compre-
hensive talk on health and safety best practices within her
company, showing what is being measured. Dr Willem Mostert
took delegates through the scorecard from the Broad-Based
Socio Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African
mining industry, explaining the way calculations worked in
terms of Government Gazette, 20 September 2010.
Justin Meth once again presented his empowering/uplift-
ing of communities, the PPC way; and the Concrete Society's
John Sheath gave a talk on the Concrete Society, how it fits
into the industry and its role in developing the individual in
the concrete industry. Individuals were encouraged to join
the Concrete Society.
The KZN regional on 8 September was a sell-out. The
meeting was held at Desmond Equipment (Dezzl) in Port
Shepstone, with Dezzi being the main sponsor with the usual
support from Sika. A factory tour through the high-tech Dezzi
factory was the highlight of the day. Aspasa/Sarma director
Nico Pienaar reported back on the recently-held strategic
planning meeting, and discussed in some detail, how the
Aspasa/Sarma organisation is run. What was particularly
interesting for all, was his feedback on the meeting with the
Chief Inspector of Mines.
KZN chairperson, Piet de Wet from Afrimat welcomed all
and thanked everybody for attending; with John Roxburgh
from C&CI outlining the training available from his organisa-
tion. Andrew Crickmay again explained self-regulation on
road transport; and Dennis Rae from the DMR did a detailed
talk on mine surveying and quarry outlays which resulted in
much discussion. Ron Stroebel from Dezzi gave an introduc-
tion to the Dezzi factory and product range, before delegates
were taken on a comprehensive factory tour.Thanks must go
to Dezzi for the excellent facilities and catering for the day.
This was unexpected and much appreciated. It was also great
to see the support from the DMR in this region.
About Face audit
This audit will run in 2012 and the document has undergone
. ............................................................................ 33
a major revamp. It will be available soon for Aspasa members
to peruse.
ISHE audit At the time of writing, Aspasa was revising the ISHE audit
document. However, over the last few months, it has come
across some issues regarding conveyor belt installations that
it seems the industry does not totally understand. Pienaar has
given MQ the following notice issued by the DMR:
Notice of orders and instructions in terms of Section 54
(1) and 55 (1) of the Mine Health and Safety Act (Act 29
o9f 1996) - Conveyor Belt Installations 'In terms of the above-mentioned Section, if an Inspector has
reason to believe that any condition at a mine endangers or
may endanger the health and safety of any person at a mine,
the Inspector may give any instruction necessary to protect
the health or safety of persons at the mine.
In view of the above and the fact that numerous serious
conveyor belt installation accidents recently occurred within
the region, you are hereby instructed to comply with the fol-
lowing instructions:
7. All reachable pulleys must be equipped with effective
guards which means that a person must not be able to
reach to any nip point between the pulley and the belt of
the installation.
8. These guards must be secured by at least bolts and nuts
and at leasta tool must be used to loosen it.
9. Inspection openings in guards must be closed and properly
secured when not in use. 1. Trip wires must stretch over the full length of the installa-
tion where access to the belt is possible. This means that
it must stretch from at least tail to head pulley guards, on
both sites of the installation if access is possible. Instal-
lations that are elevated must be equipped with these , ,
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10.
11.
devices up to a height where a person can
reach and over the full length of the walkway
side.
S. An automatic, audible alarm must sound for
at least 10 seconds before any conveyor belt
can be started. This means that the electric
wiring must be such that a person cannot fail
to comply with the 10 second time interval
and that if a conveyor belt has not been
started within 30 seconds after the alarm has
sounded, that it would be impossible to start
that belt if the alarm had not been re-used.
6. The lock-out procedure must be very clear
on WHO, WHERE, HOW and WHEN an instal-
lation must be locked out. There must be
no confusion on whose responsibility it is,
exactly where, how and when the locking-out
must be done. It must also be very clear on
whose responsibility it is to ensure that all
persons are safe and that all safety devices
are in place and in working condition before
unlocking and energising of the installation is
done. Include the requirements of Regulation
8.9.1 (a) that stipulates that the power supply
of a stationery conveyor belt installation must
be locked out during repairs, maintenance,
routine cleaning and cleaning of spillage.
Train all responsible persons in the require-
ments of this procedure.
7. A weekly checklist must be drawn up and
used by competent persons to ensure the
operation and effectiveness of all safety de-
vices. Safety devices that must be included
on this list must, at least, include but is not
limited to:
a) The lock-out facility
b) Pull wires and switches
cl Audible alarms - 10 second automatic
time delay
d) Guards - effective and well secured
e) Sequence interlocking
f) Illumination
Please note that the testing of pull wires and
switches must be done physically and that it
must be pulled at the further point from the
switch to test the strength of the wire or any
connections.
You are further instructed to ensure fun com-
pliance with the requirements of Mine Health
and Safety Act Regulations 8.9(1) to 8.9(10) for
conveyor belt installations.
The Regulations The requirements of machine
guarding as stipulated in Reg.
8.8:
1. An effective physical barrier
at the machine;
2. A failsafe electric or elec-
tronic device that will stop
the machine - interlocked;
3. An effective physical barrier
away from the machine. At least one of these shall be
used, you can use a combina-
tion depending on the requirements established
through your risk assessment:
"Any operation that has queries should consult
the Principal Inspector in the region, for a final
view on what is acceptable," Pienaar urges.
"It is clear that there is a need for commitment
and priorities for the success of our industry.The
construction industry remains challenged and
the market has been at its lowest in many years.
The attitude of 'business as usual' has changed
and new ways ofthinking and doing are needed.
"Competition legislation has caused a seri-
ous drift among roleplayers in the industry,
but companies should not view one another as
merely competitors, but rather as partners with
a common view of getting through the hard
times and working together; so that when the
economy turns, We have the support of a well
structured industry."
He says the issues that should remain in the
minds of those committed to the industry, is to
maintain the focus on quality products,excellent
customer service, good relations with employees
at all levels and to do what we do with integrity.
"The industries represented by Aspasa and Sar-
ma, play a vital role in the national economy and
infrastructure development. We need to keep
working hard to ensure that we have structures
in place so that when the boom comes, we are
more than ready," he adds. MQ
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P.S;J3Sa and Sa~"fn.a ~n focus ............................... ,
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