The AngloGold rural health initiative will bring benefits to the dependants of employees who live in far-flung areas. Currently, fieldworkers like Lillo Moeti (right) are visiting families to record addresses and the
names and ages of the household members.

Safety and health

The occupational environment
Averaged over the year, the company was responsible for the health and safety of 94 000 employees in service, including 9 600 contractors (i.e. 10 per cent). Because of the disposal of a number of shafts during the year, employee numbers were reduced accordingly and 82 449 were recorded as 'at work' at year-end.

The great majority of employees work in underground mining operations, where the mining of narrow reefs takes place at depths between 1 000 and 4 000 metres below surface. High rock temperatures require the control of the thermal environment by means of ventilation and refrigeration. To this end, 14 600 kilograms of fresh air are circulated per second and 695 megawatts of refrigeration employed to provide conditions conducive to health, safety and productivity. The mining method requires tunnelling and stoping of excavations using explosives to generate ore, which is then transported in haulages to vertical shafts for hoisting to surface. These activities can create hazardous conditions which require continual management of the working environment and specific engineering controls.

The Navachab and Sadiola open-pit operations are generally of much lower risk. At Navachab, ore and waste rock is mined by conventional surface drilling and blasting methods. The rock is then taken by truck to the ore and waste piles. At Sadiola, the nature of the ground is such that it can be loaded directly by excavator onto trucks for subsequent transport to the plant.

Members of the AngloGold Executive Committee visited Kopanang mine - one of several such visits to operations during 1998.

Hazard identification
The nature of the various operations gives rise to the following significant hazard profile:

Safety hazards Health hazards

	Seismicity and falls of ground		Dust
	Transport, machinery and equipment		Noise
	Flooding/mud rushes		Heat
	Fires		Ionising radiation
	Explosives and explosions		Gases
	Damage to shaft

Of these, seismicity, damage to a shaft and the use of explosives, are the most critical safety risks. The most serious risks to health result from dust and noise, caused by mining operations and machinery respectively.

Risk management strategy
The promulgation of the Mine Health and Safety Act in January 1997 placed certain obligations on South African mines to carry out risk assessments and to put into place structures by which health and safety would be managed effectively. AngloGold worked throughout 1997 and 1998 to further improve effective risk management through programmes of risk assessment and employee involvement.

To deal with identified hazards, a strategy for the limitation and effective management of health and safety risks has been in place at all of the underground mines for the past year. It incorporates a structured site-specific approach to the assessment of risks, as well as the training of personnel in hazard identification and risk assessment. It also includes the controlled use of new technology, and administrative structures for the control and auditing of the management systems.