According to government statistics, less than less than two-thirds of nearly 330,000 mining employees “counselled for HIV” agreed to be tested, leading to an HIV self-testing guidance note for the South African mining industry being gazetted, along with guidelines aimed at promoting HIV counselling and testing uptake, reports Legalbrief Policy Watch.
According to the self-testing guidance note, it is expected to go some way towards assisting stakeholders in their efforts to reach mine employees with an aversion to ‘conventional facility’ testing and related community-based programmes. The HIV testing and counselling guidelines focus on strengthening “good practice” across “legally acceptable workplace initiatives” and should be read and interpreted in the context of the Constitution, 1998 Employment Equity Act and other relevant legislation, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.
The Department of Mineral Resources 2017/2018 annual report indicated that less than two-thirds of the nearly 330,000 employees “counselled for HIV” chose to be tested. In addition, there appears to be a reluctance among many employers to budget for HIV prevention programmes or even to include “HIV content” in employee induction activities. Where programmes are in place, they have been found wanting for a variety of reasons including “lack of engagement with key stakeholders” and confidentiality concerns. The “fear of job loss” if tested positive and the “stigma and discrimination” associated with HIV/Aids continue to undermine the effectiveness of available treatment, which “is not harmonised” across the countries to which many mine workers return periodically.
Three code-of-practice compilation guidelines were also gazetted affecting health and safety management issues. They focus on the availability of portable oxygen sources for providing “breathable air in a closed circuit”; preventing flammable gas and coal dust explosions; and reducing the health and safety risks associated with “working in confined spaces”. This is noting that the 1996 Mine Health and Safety Act makes it mandatory for mine employers to “prepare and implement” a code of practice for managing the situations in which challenges related to these issues could arise and preventing related “incidents”.
[link url="https://legalbrief.co.za/diary/legalbrief-today/policy-watch/legislation-key-mine-health-safety-guidelines-gazetted/#redirect"]Legalbrief Policy Watch material[/link]
[link url="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202001/42956gon31.pdf"]Guidelines[/link]