Laws

Question 1

Council

Answer 1

means the Mine Health and Safety Council established by section
41 (1);

Question 2

Department

Answer 2

means the Department of Minerals and Energy;

Question 3

Employee

Answer 3

means any person who is employed or working at a mine;

Question 4

Employer

Answer 4

means an owner

Question 5

engine

Answer 5

means any appliance or combination of appliances by which power,
other than human or animal power, can be applied to do mechanical
work;

Question 6

Hazard

Answer 6

means a source of or exposure to danger;

Question 7

health

Answer 7

refers to occupational health at mines;

Question 8

‘health and safety committee’

Answer 8

means a health and safety committee

established in terms of section 34;

Question 9

health and safety equipment

Answer 9

means an article or part of an article that is
manufactured, provided or installed in the interest of the health or
safety of any person;

Question 10

health and safety representative

Answer 10

means an employee elected and

appointed in terms of section 29;

Question 11

health and safety standard

Answer 11

means any standard, irrespective of whether or
not it has the force of law, which, if applied for the purposes of this
Act, will in the opinion of the Minister promote the attainment of an
object of this Act;

Question 12

health hazard

Answer 12

means any physical, chemical or biological hazard to health,

including anything declared to be a health hazard by the Minister;

Question 13

health-threatening occurrence

Answer 13

means any occurrence that has or may have

the potential to cause serious illness or damage to health;

Question 14

healthy

Answer 14

’ means free from illness or injury attributable to occupational causes;

Question 15

inspector

Answer 15

means an officer appointed in terms of section 49 (1) (c), a Medical
Inspector and any Principal Inspector of Mines;

Question 16

Labour court

Answer 16

means the Labour Court established by section 151 of the

Labour Relations Act;

Question 17

Labour Relations Act

Answer 17

means the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act 66 of

1995);

Question 18

machinery

Answer 18

means any engine, boiler or appliance or any combination of
them, which is situated at a mine and used or intended to be
used-
(a) for generating, developing, receiving, storing, converting,
transforming, transmitting or distributing any form of power
or energy; or
(b) for conveying persons, material or minerals;

Question 19

manager

Answer 19

means any competent person appointed in terms of section 3 (1)
(a);

Question 20

medical inspector

Answer 20

means a Medical Inspector appointed in terms of section

49 (1) (b);

Question 21

medical practitioner

Answer 21

means a medical practitioner as defined in the Medical,
Dental and Supplementary Health Service Professions Act,
1974 (Act 56 of 1974

Question 22

medical surveillance

Answer 22

means a planned programme of periodic examination,
which may include clinical examinations, biological monitoring
or medical tests, of employees by an occupational health
practitioner or by an occupational medical practitioner
contemplated in section 13;

Question 23

mine

Answer 23

(a) used as a noun-
(i). any borehole, or excavation, in any tailings or in the earth,
including the portion of the earth that is under the sea or
other water, made for the purpose of searching for or
winning a mineral, whether it is being worked or not; or
(ii). any other place where a mineral deposit is being exploited,
including the mining area and all buildings, structures,
machinery, mine dumps, access roads or objects situated
on or in that area that are used or intended to be used in
connection with searching, winning, exploiting or processing
of a mineral, or for health and safety purposes. But, if two or
more excavations, boreholes or places are being worked in
conjunction with one another, they are deemed to comprise
one mine, unless the Chief Inspector of Mines notifies their
employer in writing that those excavations, boreholes or
places comprise two or more mines; or
(iii). a works; and
(b) used as a verb, the making of any excavation or borehole
referred to in paragraph (a) (i), or the exploitation of any mineral
deposit in any other manner, for the purpose of winning a
mineral, including prospecting in connection with the winning of
a mineral;

Question 24

mineral

Answer 24

means any substance, excluding water, but including sand, stone,
rock, gravel and clay, as well as soil, other than top soil-
(a) whether that substance is in solid, liquid or gaseous form;
(b) that occurs naturally in or on the earth, in or under water or in
tailings; and
(c) that has been formed by or subjected to a geological process;

Question 25

'Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act'

Answer 25

means the Mineral | and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act 28 of 2002);

Question 26

mining area

Answer 26

means a prospecting area, mining area, retention area, exploration area and production area as defined in section 1 read with section 65 (2) (b) of the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act 28 of 2002).

Question 27

Minister

Answer 27

Minister of Minerals and Energy;

Question 28

occupational disease

Answer 28

means any health disorder including a compensatable disease as contemplated by the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act, 1973 (Act 78 of 1973), and an occupational disease contemplated by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act 130 of 1993);

Question 29

occupational health

Answer 29

includes occupational hygiene and occupational | medicine;

Question 30

occupational hygiene

Answer 30

means the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of conditions at the mine, that may cause illness or adverse health effects to persons;

Question 31

occupational medicine

Answer 31

means the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness, injury and adverse health effects associated with a particular type of work;

Question 32

occupational medical practitioner

Answer 32

means a medical practitioner who holds a qualification in occupational medicine, or an equivalent qualification, recognised by the Health Professions Council of South Africa;

Question 33

officer

Answer 33

means a woman or man who has been appointed permanently despite the fact that such appointment may be on probation to a post contemplated in section 8 (1) (a) of the Public Service Act, 1994 (Proclamation 103 of 1994), and includes a woman or man contemplated in section 8 (1) (b) or 8 (3) (c) of that Act

Question 34

organism

Answer 34

means any biological entity which is capable of causing illness to persons;

Question 35

owner

Answer 35

means any biological entity which is capable of causing illness to persons;

Question 36

'prescribed'

Answer 36

means prescribed by regulation;

Question 37

Principal Inspector of mines

Answer 37

' means the officer appointed by the Chief Inspector of Mines to be in charge of health and safety in any region established in terms of section 47 (2);

Question 38

Processing

Answer 38

means the recovering, extracting, concentrating, refining, calcining, classifying, crushing, milling, screening, washing, reduction, smelting or gasification of any mineral, and 'process' has a similar meaning;

Question 39

prospecting

Answer 39

means intentionally searching for any mineral by means that disturb any tailings or the surface of the earth, including the portion of the earth that is under the sea or under other water, by means of excavation or drilling, but does not include mine as a verb;

Question 40

Public Finance Management Act

Answer 40

t' means the Public Finance Management | Act, 1999 (Act 1 of 1999);

Question 41

reasonably practicable

Answer 41

' means practicable having regard to- (a) the severity and scope of the hazard or risk concerned; (b) the state of knowledge reasonably available concerning that hazard or risk and of any means of removing or mitigating that hazard or risk; (c) the availability and suitability of means to remove or mitigate that hazard or risk; and (d) the costs and the benefits of removing or mitigating that hazard or risk;

Question 42

record

Answer 42

includes information contained in or on a computer printout, tape or disc or any other computer storage medium;

Question 43

record of medical surveillance

Answer 43

' means a record kept in terms of section 13 | 3

Question 44

registered trade union

Answer 44

' means a record kept in terms of section 13 | 3

Question 45

regulation

Answer 45

means a regulation made under section 98 or in force in terms of item 4 of Schedule 4;

Question 46

representative trade union

Answer 46

means a registered trade union, or two or more registered trade unions acting jointly, that have as members the majority of employees at a mine;

Question 47

risk

Answer 47

means the likelihood that occupational injury or harm to persons will occur;

Question 48

safety

Answer 48

means safety at mines;

Question 49

serious injury

Answer 49

means any injury which is reportable under this Act;

Question 50

serious illness

Answer 50

means any illness resulting from occupational exposure that affects the health of a person to the extent that it incapacitates the affected person from resuming that person's normal or similar occupation for four days or more;

Question 51

standard

Answer 51

means any provision occurring- (a) in a specification, compulsory specification, code of practice or standard method as defined in section 1 of the Standards Act, 1993 (Act 29 of 1993); or (b) in any specification, code or any other directive having standardisation as its aim and issued by an institution or organisation inside or outside the Republic which, whether generally or with respect to any particular article or matter and whether internationally or in any particular country or territory, seeks to promote standardisation;

Question 52

substance

Answer 52

' includes any solid, liquid, vapour, gas or aerosol, alone or in any combination;

Question 53

'this Act

Answer 53

(a) the section numbers, but not the page headers, headings or sidenotes; (b) the Schedules; (c) the regulations; and (d) any condition, suspension, notice, order, instruction, prohibition, authorisation, permission, consent, exemption, certificate or document determined, given, issued, promulgated or granted by or under this Act by the Minister, Chief Inspector of Mines, an inspector, any person authorised under section 49 (4) or any person to whom a power has been delegated or the performance of a duty has been assigned under section 96;

Question 54

top soil

Answer 54

means topsoil as defined in section 1 of the Mineral and | Petroleum Resources Development Act;

Question 55

working place

Answer 55

' means any place at a mine where employees travel or work;

Question 56

works

Answer 56

means any place, excluding a mine, where any person carries out- (a) the transmitting and distributing to another consumer of any form of power from a mine, by the employer thereof, to the terminal point of bulk supply or where the supply is not in bulk, to the power supply meter on any such other consumer's premises; or (b) training at any central rescue station; or (c) the making, repairing, re-opening or closing of any subterranean tunnel; or (d) any operations necessary or in connection with any of the operations listed in this paragraph.