Facing the Unthinkable: Fatality Prevention in the Workplace

How workplace culture, organizational systems, local workplace conditions, human error and leadership affect the risk of fatalities, and what safety professionals can do to prevent deaths.

No employer, family member or coworker ever wants a fatality to occur in the workplace. But it happens all the time. South Africa has one of the highest number of work-related mining deaths in the industrialised world, with an average of 244 per year reported between 1997 and 2007. Deaths rose by about 10 percent in the sector last year, according to the government.

Growing concern about slipping safety prompted the National Union of Mineworkers, South Africa's biggest mining union, to hold a protest strike in December 2007 in which about 240,000 workers downed tools at gold, platinum and other mines.

South Africa's government has responded to mining fatalities by temporarily ordering some operations to shut, a move that has sent a chill through the sector and led firms to focus more attention on the issue.

Unions say the mining industry, especially in South Africa, has generally been reluctant to sacrifice production in the name of safety and tended to view workers, especially black ones, as expendable.

Labour's plea for a renewed focus on safety is starting to bear fruit, with government and some companies promising to take a closer look at health and safety standards for miners.
In May 2008, mining group Anglo American signed a declaration committing it to work more closely with government and the NUM to improve safety.

Objective of Fatality Prevention Training

Participants will get working knowledge on the development implementation and assessing a fatality prevention programme:

• How to Continuing to foster and monitor awareness and support principals of Fatality Prevention, Behavioural Alignment, Leadership Development and Risk Management 
• How to embed Fatal Risk Control Protocols within their organisation and improving levels of compliance.
• How to apply Risk Control Measures through the hierarchy of defenses understand why one of the best ways to prevent and control occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is to "design out" or minimize hazards and risks early in the design process.
• How to Continual improvement in the company’s High Risk Profiles
• Understand auditing techniques for Fatality Prevention compatible with legislastion
• How to plan, perform, report on a Fatality prevention audit and to manage Fatal risks
• How to achieve continuous and sustainable improvements in safety performance, focuses on the key elements to tackle fatalities and critical incidents, as the primary safety challenge namely high potential risk incident ('near miss') reporting; behavioural safety programmes; leadership and training programmes and performance criteria; contractor management.
• How to improved safety management systems and safe working procedures to manage key risks such as interaction between people and vehicles or mobile equipment and roof falls.
• How to Eliminate Fatal Risks, avoiding pitfalls and false indicators

Understand how workplace culture, organizational systems, local workplace conditions, human error and leadership affect the risk of fatalities, and what safety professionals can do to prevent deaths.

Need more information contact: Johan Taljaard
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