MOST stakeholders are now seriously questioning the credibility of Mopani’s Safety Management System. While the nation is still waiting for the findings of the investigation of last month’s accident, Mopani Copper Mine has recorded another fatal accident resulting in the death of two miners. It’s time for Mopani to find a lasting solution.

This year alone, five miners have lost lives in two separate accidents at Mopani Mine – three died last month due to suffocation after the loader caught fire and the other two died last week in a blasting accident. The later belonged to Reliant Drilling, Mopani’s contractor.

Before I go any further, I would like to say to Mopani that “don’t panic.” Panicking will worsen the situation instead of improving. This must be a tough period for you as an organisation. With the series of fatal accidents recorded, the pressure is mounting on you. Various stakeholders like the public, media and government are demanding for a lasting solution from you. This pressure may easily force you to come up with desperate solutions which will not resolve your safety problems completely and permanently.

Following last month’s accident, I wrote an article intitled “Mopani Safety Record Worrying.” The main objective of the article was to highlight the extent of the safety problem at Mopani by providing enough accident statistics to demonstrate that Mopani safety performance is worrisome.

I also showed that Glencore, the major shareholder of Mopani, has a worrying safety record at global level. It was hoped that by highlighting the depth of Mopani’s safety problem, key stakeholders such as the government would become firm on Mopani so that the mining firm can do what it takes to improve safety.

In this article, I want to highlight what, I believe, Mopani should do to find a lasting solution. The continued accidents are a clear indication that there is a problem somewhere within Mopani Safety Management System. It is either the system is not effective, or the system is not being implemented effectively.

There are some pre-requisites to finding a lasting solution. Firstly, Mopani must admit that they have a problem and they must be open to new ideas.

Before writing the article, I had a chat with a safety officer from Mopani who claimed that the company has an excellent safety management system. When I asked why accidents have persisted, he blamed it on workers saying, “miners are complicated people.” This kind of mindset cannot deliver lasting solutions.

Secondly, Mopani must admit that the current problem-solving method they are using is not working. Currently, Mopani is being reactive instead of being proactive. It appears Mopani simply waits for an accident to occur, then conduct investigations to find the cause to improve safety.

Once another accident occurs, Mopani will simply repeat its formula. The investigation-driven approach has failed to provide a lasting solution. If accident investigations provided lasting solutions, by now Mopani would have improved its safety.

Ask yourself, “how many accident investigations has Mopani conducted? Why hasn’t Mopani managed to end the accidents?”

Unfortunately, this is the formula that key stakeholders like government and union leaders keep on encouraging Mopani to use. Every time an accident occurs, we hear these stakeholders saying, “Mopani must investigate the accident to find a solution.” Investigations alone will not improve safety at Mopani!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying accident investigation is bad. Neither am I saying that Mopani must stop conducting accident investigations. My point is that Mopani must not end with accident investigations. In fact, Mopani must not wait for accident investigations to introduce safety improvements.

Mopani must not just conduct accident investigations but safety research as well. Accident investigation waits for an accident while safety research is conducted even when there is no accident. Accident investigation is trigged by an accident while safety research is triggered by safety objectives.

Accident investigation is backward looking while safety research is forward looking. Safety research looks at historical safety trends to project the future performance.

Mopani must conduct research in its own safety performance. Mopani shouldn’t just focus on a single accident, investigate its root cause and continue with business as usual. To them, latest accident becomes the focus of “safety improvement” while neglecting past accidents. But with research, all accidents – past or present – will be analysed.

There are three areas where Mopani must research to identify gaps. These are technical, human and organisational factors.

The technical factors look at unsafe conditions of the machinery, materials and tools. The human factors look at unsafe acts of workers. These includes competences, procedures, supervision, training and attitude of workers. The organisational factors include the leadership, planning, communication, resources and culture of an organisation. These factors must be analysed critically.

My last words are that Mopani has investigated enough accidents. By now they would have found a lasting solution. Investigations alone have failed to deliver the desired solution. This is because investigations only looks at the current single accident to identify the root cause. This method, in most cases, neglects many other factors like organisational factors.

Let Mopani try conducting a thorough research. Unlike accident investigation, safety research must go beyond the present accident and, if necessary, beyond the company itself.

Mopani must research what other Zambian mining companies are doing which they are not doing. Mopani can even send its workers to learn best practices from their counterparts.

If the research reveals that you have a wrong Safety Management System, replace it with a better one. If research reveals that you are implementing a right system wrongly, change your implementation strategy. Don’t just wait for investigations to improve safety. Until next week, stay safe. Zambia needs you.

*The author is the CEO of SafetyFocus, For your comments, contact the author on cell +260 955 179267 or email: [email protected]

Mark Kunda – Safety Consultant.