Statistics Act, 1999
R 385
Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act, 1973 (Act No. 78 of 1973)1. Definitions |
| (1) | In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates— |
"adopted child"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"advisory committee"
means the advisory committee established under section 59;
"Amendment Act"
means the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, 1933;
[Definition inserted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"benefit"
means money which has been awarded or which is required to be awarded or money which has been paid or which is required to be paid or the payment of money or a claim for the payment of money, as the context may require, to or in respect of a person or to or in respect of the dependants of a person, on the ground that such person was under the previous Act found to be suffering from pneumoconiosis or tuberculosis, or has under this Act been found to be suffering from a compensatable disease, but does not include money awarded under the previous Act or this Act to a person in the form of a special grant or in the form of assistance in connection with the training of any person;
"Black affairs authority"
[Definition deleted by section 7 of the Pension Laws Amendment Act, No. 89 of 1988]
"Black person"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"bureau"
means the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases established under section 2;
"cardio-respiratory organs"
means all or any of the following organs, namely larynx, trachea, bronchial tree, lung parenchyma, pleurae, lymphatic system of the lungs, vascular system of the lungs, nerve supply of the lungs, diaphragm and nerve supply to diaphragm, heart, pericardium and large intrathoracic bloodvessels;
"certificate of fitness"
means a certificate of fitness issued to a person under this Act pursuant to a medical examination of such person;
"certification committee"
means the Medical Certification Committee for Occupational Diseases established under section 39;
"child"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"Coloured person"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"Coloured female"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"commissioner"
means the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases appointed under section 54 (a);
"compensatable disease"
means—
| (a) | pneumoconiosis; |
| (b) | the joint condition of pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis; |
| (c) | tuberculosis which, in the opinion of the certification committee, was contracted while the person concerned was performing risk work, or with which the person concerned was in the opinion of the certification committee already affected at any time within the twelve months immediately following the date on which that person performed such work for the last time; |
| (d) | permanent obstruction of the airways which, in the opinion of the certification committee, is attributable to the performance of risk work; |
[Paragraph (d) substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1978]
| (e) | any other permanent disease of the cardio-respiratory organs which in the opinion of the certification committee is attributable to the performance of risk work; or |
| (eA) | progressive systemic sclerosis which, in the opinion of the certification committee, is attributable to the performance of risk work; or |
[Paragraph (eA) inserted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 27 of 1974]
| (f) | any other disease which the Minister, acting on the advice of a committee consisting of the director and not fewer than three other medical practitioners designated by the Minister, has, subject to the provisions of subsection (2), by notice in the Gazette declared to be a compensatable disease and which, in the opinion of the certification committee, is attributable to the performance of risk work at a mine or works; |
[Paragraph (f) substituted by section 2 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 45 of 1975]
"contractor"
means a person who employs persons in connection with the performance of risk work at a controlled mine or a controlled works, which he or she has undertaken to perform on behalf of the owner of that mine or works;
"controlled mine"
means a mine which is a controlled mine in terms of section 9 or which has been declared a controlled mine under section 10;
"controlled works"
means a works which is a controlled works in terms of section 9 or which has been declared a controlled works under section 10;
"dependant"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"dependent child"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"director"
means the Director of the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases appointed under section 3(1)(a);
"Director-General"
means the Director-General: National Health and Population Development;
[Definition inserted by section 7 of the Pension Laws Amendment Act, No. 89 of 1988]
"earnings"
means—
| (a) | in the case of a person who was performing risk work on the relevant date contemplated in section 49, the amount determined in accordance with the provisions of section 80A; |
| (b) | in the case of a person who was not performing risk work on the said date, the amount determined in accordance with the provisions of section 80B; |
[Definition inserted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"financial year"
means the period from 1 April in any year to 31 March in the next ensuing year;
"fixed date"
means the date on which the Amendment Act comes into operation;
[Definition inserted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"medical adviser"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"medical practitioner"
means a person who is registered as a medical practitioner under the Medical, Dental and Supplementary Health Service Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974);
[Definition substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"mine"
means—
| (a) | any excavation in the earth, whether being worked or not, made for the purpose of searching for or winning a mineral; or |
| (b) | any other place where a mineral deposit is being worked and any quarry, including the mining area or other places at or near a mine on which buildings, constructions, mine dumps, dams, machinery or objects are situated and which are used or intended to be used for the following operations or any operation necessary or incidental thereto, namely— |
| (i) | the searching for or winning a mineral; |
| (ii) | the crushing, reducing, dressing, concentration or smelting of a mineral; |
| (iii) | the production of a product of commercial value, excluding a clay or earthenware product or cement, from a mineral; or |
| (iv) | the extracting, concentration or refining of any constituent of a mineral: |
Provided that if two or more such excavations or places are being worked in conjunction with one another, they shall be deemed to comprise one mine unless the Chief Inspector as contemplated in the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996, notifies the owner thereof in writing that such excavations or places comprise two or more mines;
[Definition substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"Minister"
means the Minister for National Health and Welfare;
[Definition substituted by section 7 of the Pension Laws Amendment Act, No. 89 of 1988 and section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"one-sum benefit"
means a benefit other than a pension or monthly allowance awarded to a person or in respect of a person to any other person under the previous Act or this Act, but does not include a special grant or any assistance to a person in respect of the training of any person;
"owner"
in relation to a mine or works, includes the lessee of the mine or works and any person who has the right, or has, by virtue of any law or any agreement with the owner of the mine or works, acquired the right, to exploit a mine for his or her own benefit or to operate a works for his or her own benefit; and if the question arises whether a person is, for the purposes of this Act, the owner of a mine or a works, the Minister shall make a decision on such question;
[Definition substituted by section 50 of the Abolition of Restrictions on the Jurisdiction of Courts Act, No. 88 of 1996]
"pneumoconiosis"
means a permanent lesion, excluding a calcified lesion, of the cardio-respiratory organs caused by the inhalation of dust in the course of the performance of risk work;
[Definition substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1978]
"prescribe" or "prescribed"
means prescribe or prescribed by regulation;
"previous Act"
means the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Act, 1962 (Act No. 64 of 1962), including the other laws repealed by section 136 and any laws relating to the payment of compensation to or in respect of persons in respect of miner’s phthisis or silicosis or pneumoconiosis or tuberculosis contracted in the employment of mines or as a result of employment at mines, which preceded the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Act, 1962;
"regulation"
means a regulation in force under this Act;
"Republic"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"reviewing authority"
means the Medical Reviewing Authority for Occupational Diseases established under section 40;
"risk"
in relation to a mine or a works, means the risk of contracting a compensatable disease, to which persons who perform risk work in or at or in connection with that mine or works are exposed, or the risk determined by the risk committee under section 20 or 21 in respect of that mine or works, as the context may require;
"risk committee"
means the Risk Committee for Mines and Works established under section 18;
"risk work"
means any work declared or deemed to have been declared risk work under section 13;
"secretary"
[Definition deleted by section 7 of the Pension Laws Amendment Act, No. 89 of 1988]
"this Act"
includes any regulation;
"tuberculosis"
means tuberculosis of the cardio-respiratory organs of a person who has worked at least 200 shifts in circumstances amounting to a risk and where silica dust or any other injurious dust was present, or any sequelae, complication or manifestation thereof, but does not include inactive or calcified foci;
[Definition substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"White person"
[Definition deleted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
"works"
means any place, not being a mine or part of a mine, where any of the following operations and any operation necessary therefor or incidental thereto are carried out and constitute the main operation at such place, namely—
| (a) | the moving, transfer or handling of stone, rock, ore, coal or other minerals, including any loading operation at subsidiary sidings; |
| (b) | the crushing, screening, washing, classifying or concentration of any mineral; |
| (c) | the treating of any mineral, in the form obtained from a mine, for the production of coke or for the production of a base metal in any shape or form, including ingots, billets and rolled sections; |
| (d) | the working or treating of mine tailings deposits or mine dumps for the recovery of any valuable content thereof; |
| (e) | the extracting of any precious metal from any mineral or concentrate; |
| (f) | the refining of any precious metal; |
| (g) | the drying or calcining of any source material as defined in the Nuclear Energy Act, 1993 (Act No. 131 of 1993); |
| (h) | the making, repairing, reopening or closing of any subterranean tunnel. |
[Definition substituted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
| (2) |
| (a) | The Minister shall, before declaring a disease to be a compensatable disease in terms of paragraph (f) of the definition of "compensatable disease" in subsection (1), consider such representations (if any) as may have been submitted to him or her by owners of controlled mines or controlled works or by any organization acting on behalf of such owners or on behalf of persons who perform risk work at such mines or works. |
| (b) | The Minister shall not declare any disease which is compensatable under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1941 (Act No. 30 of 1941), to be a compensatable disease as contemplated in the said paragraph (f), except after consultation with the Minister of Manpower. |
[Section 1(2)(b) amended by section 43 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
| (3) | Any finding made or deemed to have been made by the certification committee in accordance with the provisions of— |
| (a) | section 44, before the commencement of the Amendment Act; and |
| (b) | section 80 (4), 87 (4), 88 (2) or 106, before the repeal or substitution of those sections by the Amendment Act, |
shall for the purposes of this Act be regarded—
| (i) | in the case of a finding contemplated in subsection (1) of the said section 44, or in the said section 80(4), 87(4), 88(2) or 106, as a finding that the person concerned is suffering from a compensatable disease in the first degree; |
| (ii) | in the case of a finding contemplated in subsection (2) of the said section 44, as a finding that the person concerned is suffering from a compensatable disease in the second degree. |
[Section (1)(3) inserted by section 1 of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, No. 208 of 1993]
