Quarry Southern Africa July 2019 | Page 31

FACE TO FACE Simon Tose, outgoing chairman of the Institute of Quarrying. Tose explains that this process started with some “housekeeping” of the board of directors, removing the names of people who had died or retired, and bringing in new blood; bringing in new technology to better serve the membership and offer them value for money for their membership fees, all the while keeping costs to a minimum. “Members essentially pay their dues for training,” explains Tose, and the focus of his term in office became “getting a breath of fresh air back into training”. “If you look at the Mine Health & Safety Act that quarrying falls under, to be a manager of, for instance, a gold mine there are certain qualifications that www.quarryonline.co.za  are required legally. Yet if you look at a two-man quarry operation, the manager is often there either because he bought the quarry and now runs it, or he’s come from a larger quarry with some knowledge of mechanics, electrical and crushing. Blasting is a small portion of quarrying. My focus was on how an individual can realistically become a qualified quarry manager. I spent time with the IOQ UK, which has a good online system in modular form. This means students can study at their own pace and at their own convenience. The nice thing about it is that it is a training programme approved under UK law – they meet the standards to become a quarry manager in the UK. We’ve now entered into an agreement with IOQ UK to bring their training here, and eventually to tailor it to South African regulations,” says Tose. “We’ve achieved an important starting point in the qualification process. If someone wants to become a quarry manager in South Africa from now on, they can enrol with us (and consequently will not have to pay the UK rates, which with the unfavourable exchange rate are currently unaffordable) giving a fixed rand price.” They have the same system in Australia, and this is what has been missing here in South Africa. One of the remaining challenges locally is whether it will ultimately fall under the DMR, the CIE or the Department of Labour. It is, of necessity, the UK curriculum developed by the University of Derby, but Tose notes that “it is a start” and localisation issues will be sorted out over time. What would make it easier, he adds, is if people were to enrol in volume – making the economics of tailoring it and passing it through the NQF system much easier, including valuable input that would be received from students. This was announced at the April conference, and it will be launched later this year, says Tose. “As things stand, there are obviously differences in the law and environmental issues, but most of the building blocks are there – and graduates will earn an international qualification.” IOQSA’s training is all member related, while Aspasa’s training is skills or operationally related for companies. While this will continue to be a key focus for his successor, Lazarus Meko (see interview page 40), Tose notes that an emerging focus for the coming years is the move to create a global body among quarry organisations. “This drive stems from the fact that a lot of the industry today is inter-connected. Cement manufacturers in particular are multinationals, as are many asphalt manufacturers, and there is a need to standardise the product from quarries. The same applies to quarry managers – he needs to be eligible to work in, say, Hong Kong, to the same standard as in South Africa. The various IOQs are doing a survey to see how each compares and to standardise the training.” South Africa has about 250 to 300 IOQSA members, Hong Kong about 75 and the UK over 2 500. Greater co-operation would assist in greater connectivity and linked resources among organisations would facilitate information sharing on matters such as suppliers of various plant and equipment, to create a global database. QUARRY SA | JULY/AUGUST 2019_29