When maintenance teams are deployed to work at elevated positions on conveyors and other high-risk areas, the question arises: do employers have comprehensive measures in place to mitigate the risk of falls from height? Unfortunately, for many mining operations in Africa, this remains a harsh reality.
Maintenance teams in Africa’s heavy industries, especially mining, carry out tasks in situations that expose them to serious health and safety risks. One of the most hazardous is working at height to repair mission-critical equipment to enhance reliability.
But some food for thought: what about the hazards workers face in the line of duty? Can their lives be sacrificed at the altar of profitability?
Legislation
The law is unequivocal on this.
In different jurisdictions on the African continent, respective health and safety regulations oblige employers to ensure the safety of their workers at whatever cost. In South Africa, for instance, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) applies. Specific to the mining sector, there is the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA).
Risks in Mining
Where there is a requirement to work at an elevated level on a mine site, risks are inevitable. Several situations can cause falls from height, including:
• Elevated conveyors and crushers without proper guardrails.
• Dust from haul roads accumulating on the surfaces of metal walkways, reducing traction and causing slips.
• High vibrations from heavy machinery making footing on walkway floors unstable.
• Executing rescue operations in confined vertical shafts during emergencies, increasing fall risks among panicking workers.
Statistics Don’t Lie
These scenarios are a reality in mining operations every day. Despite this, some organisations still view compliance with health and safety as secondary to the core mandate of increasing the bottom line, but statistics don’t lie.
A Dose of Reality
Employers who dismiss or downplay the safety risks of working at height need to face a dose of reality.
Currently, the Minerals Council South Africa does not publish current statistics on work-at-height accidents in mining, let alone for maintenance workers. However, while mining sector data is scarce, the situation in South Africa’s construction industry highlights the severity of falls from height.
The Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company (FEM), which services the construction sector, collects data from incidents involving its clients. Its recent report shows that between 2015 and 2024, falls from height accounted for 10% of all accidents and 14% of fatal accidents.
These statistics cannot simply be dismissed as unique to construction. Imagine if such incidents occurred among maintenance workers at a mining site in Zambia’s Copperbelt or a gold mine in Ghana. Given the labour-intensive nature of mining, the frequent need to work at height, and the complexity of operations, the situation could be even worse.
Worrying Persistence
It is confounding that despite increased awareness of best practice and access to advances in safety products, falls from height remain worryingly prevalent.
What is striking is that the contributing factors are largely similar, suggesting persistent gaps in safety culture and implementation.
Causative Factors
Minor oversights, often ignored, can escalate into major accidents. Common factors, based on documented statistics, include:
- Working in Risk Positions: Unprotected edges without proper fall prevention systems (e.g., guardrails, harnesses).
- Unstable Equipment: Scaffolding failure due to poor assembly, inadequate inspections, or overloading.
- Inadequate Fall Protection: Missing or misused PPE such as safety harnesses, or failure to install safety nets/guardrails.
- Slippery Surfaces: Wet conditions, debris, or uneven flooring increasing trip/slip risks.
- Human Factors: Worker fatigue, complacency, or lack of training (or failure to grasp) fall prevention protocols.
- Poor Planning & Supervision: Inadequate risk assessments, unclear safety protocols, or lax enforcement of regulations (e.g., OHSA standards).
- Environmental Hazards: Weather conditions such as wind or rain.
- Lack of Training: Insufficient education on safe work practices at fall-risk positions.
Preventive Measures
To mitigate the risk of falls from height, organisations can adopt the following measures:
• Use mechanical lifts such as cherry pickers and scissor lifts wherever possible.
• Implement engineering controls in the form of guardrails, safety nets, and scaffolding.
• Develop a comprehensive fall protection plan – including hazard identification, PPE selection, and emergency rescue operations – supported by daily safety talks and clear hazard markings with signs and barricades.
• Ensure PPE includes full-body harnesses, lanyards, anchors, helmets, and non-slip boots.
By and large, falls from different levels pose a significant risk for maintenance personnel. A zero-fall mindset is the first line of defence, but it requires commitment at all levels from management to on-site workers. This can only be achieved by integrating technology, training, and strict compliance.
