Virtual reality for mine safety training in South Africa

The need for improved worker safety training programmes, as a means to reduce accidents in South African mines, is being emphasized by all industry stakeholders and driven by legislation1. Accident statistics (cf. Table I) highlight the need to address falls of ground as the primary safety hazard in underground (gold) mining operations2. The high incidence of accidents and fatalities in the South African mining industry3, in particular those associated with falls of ground in the gold and platinum mines, is often attributed to ineffective and/or inappropriate training methods and material4. The Leon Commission’s5 inquiry into safety and health in the South African mining industry identified four major hazard categories that it prioritised for urgent and immediate attention. The top two of these hazard categories being: falls of ground (noted by the Commission to be responsible for 61,7 per cent of deaths and 30,8 per cent of serious injuries in all gold mines in 1993); and mining equipment and transport (noted by the Commission to be responsible for 12,7 per cent of deaths and 21,4 per cent of serious injuries in all gold mines in 1993)6. Although the number of fatalities in gold mines (Table I) has dropped numerically by 60 per cent over the last decade, the rate per 1000 workers has remained largely unchanged due to a concomitant reduction in the workforce7. A similar picture also applies in the case of reportable accidents. A further indication of the seriousness of the situation is that the prevailing fatality rate is approximately five times higher than that recorded in the mining industries of developed nations5. The undoubted social and political consequences associated with such high accident rates cannot be ignored nor can the cost to the mining industry. For example, Schutte8 notes that the average cost in 1993/94 of a fatal fall of ground accident was R462 872.00 and that of a reportable fall of ground accident was R233 398.00. The goal in the years to come should, therefore, be to address these unacceptably high accident rates in real terms through, amongst other strategies, the use of the improved training technologies and methods that are now available. Virtual reality for mine safety training in South Africa