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Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (Act No. 29 of 1996)

Regulations

Guideline for a Mandatory Code of Practice

Right to Refuse Dangerous Work and Leave Dangerous Working Places

Annexures

Annexure 3 : Example of a procedure for employees to exercise their RRDW or RLDWP

 

1. Notification by employee

 

1.1 Any employee who, with reasonable justification, exercises the RRDW or RLDWP must immediately:
1.1.1 Notify that employee’s immediate supervisor and the health and safety representative for the working place, if they are present at or near the workplace, of his/her actions and the reasons for it; and
1.1.2 Notify other employees if there may be a serious danger to their health or safety.

 

1.2 If the immediate supervisor is not present, the employee must notify, as soon as possible and at least before the end of that shift, the supervisor of that immediate supervisor, or another easily contactable mine official of at least equivalent rank.

 

1.3 If the health and safety representative for that workplace is not present, the employee must notify another workplace health and safety representative or a full time health and safety representative.

 

2. Notification by workplace health and safety representative

 

2.1 If a workplace health and safety representative directs employees to stop work and/or leave a working place, that representative must:
2.1.1 Immediately notify the supervisor of that working place or, if he / she is not present, notify another supervisor or management official of at least equivalent rank;
2.1.2 Notify any full time health and safety representative.

 

3. Notification to health and safety department or manager

 

3.1 The COP should set out a procedure to ensure that a notification of any incident reaches the health and safety department at the mine as soon as practicable, or where there is no health and safety department, the mine manager.

 

4. Evaluation of danger and steps to be taken

 

4.1 The supervisor or any other mine official present (contemplated in 1.1.1, 1.2 or 2.1.1) and the health and safety representative (contemplated in 1.1.1 or 1.3) must meet as soon as practicable to evaluate whether there is any danger to the health or safety of employees which is serious and, if so, to determine what steps, if any, should be taken to safely remove the danger to health or safety. If any such steps are determined:
4.1.1 The supervisor must ensure that the necessary steps are taken to make the work and/or working place healthy and safe;
4.1.2 The supervisor must take reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorised entry to any unsafe working place; and
4.1.3 Once these steps have been taken, the supervisor and the workplace health and safety representative must jointly advise the employees accordingly, where after the employee/s must return to the workplace immediately and/or start work immediately.

 

4.2 If, however, it is agreed that no serious danger to the health or safety of the employee/s prevails, the employee/s will be required to return to the workplace immediately and/or start work immediately.

 

4.3 If the persons contemplated in 4.1 are unable to agree on whether or not there is a serious danger and/or on the steps that need to be taken to remove any serious danger:
4.3.1 The supervisor must notify a manager with responsibility for the section of the mine concerned; and
4.3.2 The representative must notify the full time health and safety representative, and may request the assistance of a technical adviser (see 4.17 below).

 

4.4 Thereafter, a meeting must be held involving the persons referred to in 4.3.1 and 4.3.2, to seek to resolve the issue that led to the refusal to work and/or employees leaving the working place.

 

4.5 If agreement is still not reached on whether there is a serious danger and/or the steps that must be taken to remove any serious danger, management must arrange for the involvement of an appropriate technical adviser to assist the parties. Should agreement still not be reached following the involvement of such technical adviser the employer must make a final decision on all issues on which there is disagreement after consultation with such technical adviser. Such decision must be in writing and must record the reasons for the decisions, highlighting the reasons where any employer decisions deviate from any recommendations by the technical adviser.

 

4.6 When agreement is reached on the steps that must be taken to remove the danger, or the employer has taken a final decision as contemplated in 4.4, the supervisor and the health and safety representative must:
4.6.1 Ensure that the necessary steps are taken to make the work and/or working place health and safe;
4.6.2 Jointly advise the employees of the steps that are being taken; and
4.6.3 Once the steps have been taken, jointly advise the employees accordingly, where after the employees must return to the workplace immediately and/or start work immediately.

 

5. Re-assignment and protection

 

5.1 Employees who have refused to work or have withdrawn from a working place:
5.1.1 Must remain in the nearest safe place to that working place, unless directed otherwise by mine management; and
5.1.2 May not be disciplined for exercising their right to refuse dangerous work and/or leave a dangerous working place unless they acted in bad faith or refuse immediately to return to work once the work and/or working place is safe.

 

5.2 The management of the mine may require an employee who has refused to work and/or withdrawn, or who was instructed to stop work and/or withdraw from a working place, to perform suitable alternative work if the employee is competent and qualified to perform the work concerned.

 

5.3 Management may request another employee to do the work or to work in the working place, but if any employee is requested to do the work and/or work in the working place before the matter has been resolved, management must notify the employee:
5.3.1 That another employee has refused to do the work and/or work there;
5.3.2 Of the reason(s) for the refusal;
5.3.3 Of the reason(s) why the employee is requested to do the work and/or work in that working place, given the other employee’s refusal; and
5.3.4 That the employee has the same right to refuse as the first employee.

 

6. Participation by technical advisers

 

6.1 If a workplace health and safety representative requests that a technical adviser participates in the resolution of the issue:
6.1.1 Management must not unreasonably withhold the approval required;
6.1.2 Management must give reasonable assistance necessary to enable participation by the technical adviser; and
6.1.3 Access by any technical adviser will be in terms of existing recognition and procedural agreements between the parties and existing mine policies and procedures.

 

7. Report

 

7.1 The supervisor and the workplace health and safety representative must each prepare a report, or may prepare a joint report, setting out:
7.1.1 The circumstances which arose that posed a serious danger to the health or safety of an employee; and
7.1.2 The steps taken to resolve that problem.

 

7.2 The report/s must be placed before the next meeting of the mine’s health and safety committee, which committee should monitor all instances of withdrawals.