Published: 28 March 2025 (GG 52388)
Status: in force from publication
The Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources amended Chapter 16 of the Mine Health and Safety Regulations. The revised regulations apply to all mines covered by the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996.
The competent person must now report to the employer, at intervals justified by risk assessment, on measures for a wider set of emergencies. That list is no longer limited to explosions, fires and flooding. It includes chemical release, biological release, gassing and engineering-related events, among others.
Self-contained self-rescuers are tightened. No person may go underground without a body-worn SCSR that complies with the latest applicable SANS standard. Previous coal versus non-coal differences on this point have been aligned.
Employers must review the emergency risk assessment, the mandatory code of practice, escape and rescue arrangements, first aid capacity and the competence of the person reporting to the employer.
What to do now
Re-run the emergency risk assessment against the new event list. Confirm SCSR type, quantities, allocation and training against the current SANS standard. Update the Chapter 16 CoP and the intervals at which the competent person reports. Record the justification for those intervals.