Mine owners and mining-sector stakeholders will benefit from attending the 2015 South African Emergency Services Institute (SAESI) Conference, Exhibition and Training event as the inherent risks of the industry will be highlighted, conference organiser Sean Macnamara of Interact Media Defined tells Mining Weekly.

The event, scheduled to take place from November 1 to 6 at the Nasrec Expo Centre, in Johannesburg, will include a conference under the theme: ‘Building resilient communities, an exhibition and training event for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel’, as well as a fun run and world-record attempt at pulling a fully loaded fire truck.

The conference will comprise the pillars of education, risk management, and security and resilience.

The education pillar will focus on public information, education and relations, identifying different means of educating communities and establishing a national learning programme for industry.

The risk management pillar will focus on understanding the process of risk management, empowering communities to assist them in identifying the hazards that affect them and creating risk management forums, as well as the practical implementation of risk management tools.

Macnamara states that the risk management and education sessions are expected to benefit the mining industry significantly, noting that miners should focus on building resilient communities in the areas where they mine.

“A resilient community is defined as one that can protect itself from fire and grievous injury because its members have been educated and . . . are trained to deal with fires and injuries, should they occur,” Macnamara explains.

Further, mineworkers are also vulnerable because they work in highly dangerous environments; therefore, they have to be educated to protect themselves from the risks in their daily environment, Macnamara adds.

International standardisation in security and resilience, which affects the wellbeing of people, will form the focus of the third pillar.

A new feature of the 2015 conference is the breakaway sessions, which will give delegates an opportunity to discuss the topics at hand with the speakers, while the exhibition will feature exhibitors from, for example, fire safety, building safety and construction.

Training Events
The SAESI 2015 training component includes various challenges, during which emergency management services personnel compete individually or as a team. To qualify for these challenges, participants have to attend a two-day symposium on November 2 and 3.

Training events will include a high-angle rescue challenge, an extrication challenge, an EMS challenge and a firefighting challenge.

Meanwhile, on November 1, teams of ten hope to set a new world record by competing at pulling a fully loaded fire truck.