Compensation this year alone for mining silicosis victims to cost R1.5bn
- Published on 26 Jun 2015
- HR Pulse News Desk
Thousands of former mine workers with occupational diseases, particularly silicosis, will cost the state R1.5bn in compensation this year, but there are thousands more outstanding claims, creating a potential debt of several billion rand.
Mine workers get silicosis mainly in the gold-mining industry by inhaling microscopic dust particles while doing their jobs. Workers with occupational diseases are entitled to compensation from the state in terms of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (ODMWA), but serious doubts exist about the solvency of the ODMWA fund.
Prof Rodney Ehrlich of UCT’s School of Public Health told Parliament’s mineral resources committee on Wednesday that former workers, particularly black ex-miners, “have poor access to compensation medical examinations" and the system was poorly understood. There is apparently a backlog of 8,000 mine workers needing medical certification at the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases and there is a “massive backlog” of current claims payments at the ODMWA Compensation Commissioner of about 104,000, Ehrlich indicated. He added that, despite an undertaking in 2003 to ensure that there would be no new cases of silicosis from 2008, in recent years there had still been a steady flow of silicosis cases each year.
