In the stope that crews are sufficiently resourced and what these crews require to guarantee safe production .
Has the workforce changed over the past few years ?
Yes . There is a new or millennial generation of miners that is totally different from the older generation in terms of education and how they look at and perceive mining . They have many ambitions , and this requires a unique way of managing them and creating opportunities for upward mobility .
These millennial miners are technology savvy , and they are very particular about how they are managed and how they should be led by their superiors . So , the book touches on change management as well .
In the book , you talk about a concept called ‘ planisa ’. Can you explain what it is ?
Yes , planisa is an interesting concept . It is a mining lingua franca or pidgin derived from the Afrikaans saying ‘‘ n Boer maak ‘ n plan ’ ( to make a plan ). Planisa is triggered by a number of work circumstances .
Workers and production teams have monthly targets to meet . For example , if they blast a certain number of metres and they exceed those targets , they qualify for a bonus in addition to their monthly salary . The bonus scheme is structured . It has parameters of productivity , safety , production efficiency in terms of sweeping the broken ore into the ore
Leon Louw
Dr Sizwe Phakathi , head safety and sustainable development at the Chamber of Mines .
bins , and all the other actions . When a person is injured , there are penalties in terms of the amount the teams will be paid at the end of the month . Planisa will happen in circumstances when , for instance , the team runs short of material . It may be something that they cannot control , like a delay in the delivery of timber packs to support the hanging wall in the stope .
So , the workers make a plan — they might even steal another team ’ s timber packs , or they negotiate some form of informal arrangement in adjacent working stations or panels . Sometimes the team would use wire to fix a broken winch because there were no nuts and bolts , which obviously had safety implications . The workers improvise to restore production , and if they get it right , they are regarded as heroes by their seniors . But planisa is a double-edged sword because of the safety aspects .
If planisa results in some form of injury or fatality , then the workers are blamed and penalised , even if it is not always their fault — there is production pressure , a desire to meet production targets , and the lure of a production bonus . Planisa can be the result of poor planning by supervisors or senior management . Overall , planisa is an innovative strategy , but that being said , the unsafe aspects of the concept have to be eliminated .
You compare the South African safety statistics with those in other mining jurisdictions like Australia , Canada , and the US . How do we compare ?
The South African fatality rate is still very high . Last year , for the first time in 10 years , the industry actually regressed in terms of fatalities , and that is disappointing . Nonetheless , we are making progress , despite
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