Industry organisation the Minerals Council South Africa launched its Ex-Mineworkers Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) Guide in multiple languages on March 24, coinciding with World TB Day.

The Minerals Council’s multi-party Masoyise Health Programme launched the guide in English, isiXhosa, Sesotho and Portuguese to assist former mineworkers across the Southern African Development Community to understand their healthcare rights, compensation benefits and how to contact support structures for lung diseases incurred while working on South African mines.

A tangible outcome of the Minerals Council’s post-employment care framework, this guide aimed to address the challenges faced by former mineworkers in accessing healthcare and support services after employment, Masoyise Health Programme chairperson Richard Stewart explained, speaking at the launch in Johannesburg.

To address these challenges, the Minerals Council and its partners collectively developed the guide, which provides important information on common occupational diseases and illnesses that may affect miners during and after their careers.

While the guide focuses on OLDs, it also includes contacts for Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) for other occupational injuries or diseases, as well as the Mineworkers Provident Fund regarding financial benefits.

The online guide will be distributed to countries that provided labour for South African mines, as well as local labour-sending areas.

The 54-page guide defines an OLD, including silicosis, tuberculosis (TB), coal workers pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema) and asbestosis.

It outlines that every former mineworker has the right to receive a free medical examination every two years at Department of Health hospitals in all nine South African provinces that perform benefit medical examinations or at mine hospitals or clinics of the mining company at which they are or were employed.

Included in the guide is an explanation of the Tshiamiso Trust, which was constituted in 2020, to ensure all eligible current and former mineworkers, or their dependants, across Southern Africa who have permanent lung impairment owing to silicosis or work-related TB are compensated.

Online versions of the booklet can be found on the Minerals Council and Masoyise websites.

Moreover, an audio summary of the guide is available.

Stewart highlighted the guide as a critical step in ongoing efforts to improve health and safety in the industry.

He pointed out that the mining industry had made considerable strides in areas including reducing the TB incident rates, especially given that this came from a high above-national average base, and lauded the private sector's contribution to increase screenings and other mitigation efforts.

However, TB still remained a threat to mineworkers and was a major cause of death, therefore, more work still needed to be done, Stewart stressed, adding that the gold sector was still above targeted rates.

National Union of Mineworkers acting deputy general secretary Phillip Mankge welcomed the guide, but also called for it to be condensed into a pocket-sized version for ease. This request was noted, and the potential for this would now be explored.

The guide was also welcomed by other stakeholders at the launch, including the National Department of Health, the National Institute of Occupational Health, the Southern African Miners Association and the Mozambican Ministry of Labour.

FURTHER INITIATIVES

Stewart informed that, moving forward, other initiatives being pursued as part of the post-employment care framework included the development of a health surveillance database, which aimed to provide comprehensive data on employees, and as they leave the industry.

This database is aimed at addressing previous challenges of employees having no record and information on where they worked, and the occupational risks that they may have faced during their working lives.

It also aims to improve surveillance and compensation, augmenting the current system of benefit medical examinations that are provided to ex-mine workers, hopefully engendering early detection and treatment of occupational disease.

Another initiative is a noise repository, which is being established in collaboration with the RMA, with the aim being to improve surveillance and storage of audiograms used to monitor noise-induced hearing loss.

Stewart emphasised that these audiograms were essential for diagnosing impairments owing to noise, and therefore, critical for compensation of employees who had suffered from noise-induced hearing loss.

“We also look forward to the review of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act. This will provide a solid base with the establishment of a fair, equitable and sustainable legal platform for the provision of comprehensive services and compensation relating to occupational lung diseases,” Stewart said, adding that these initiatives were long overdue.