Gap851 Final Report Main Body

4.2Lessons from other endeavours to improve safety and health

South Africa faces several other serious challenges to public safety and health apart from the rock-related risks of mining. Life expectancy at birth in 2002 was 46 years, compared with 69 years in much of the world (World Bank, 2004). The number of premature deaths as a result of crime, traffic accidents and HIV/AIDS is alarming, and could well influence or reflect risk-taking behaviour. South Africa’s population in 2003 was 46.13 million. The latest year for which murder statistics could be obtained was for 2000, in which more than 22 030 people were murdered (Gun Free South Africa, 2005). South Africa has one of the highest rates of police officers killed in the world. For the years 2000 and 2001, an average of 170 police officers were murdered per year. In most cases police officials were shot while off duty. (Gun Free South Africa, 2005). In 2003, there were 12 353 fatalities on South African roads (Arrive Alive, 2005). The Actuarial Society of South Africa estimated that over 300 000 people died of AIDS in South Africa in 2004 (Treatment Action Campaign, 2005).

In this section we briefly survey endeavours to improve health and safety in the crime prevention, traffic management and public health sectors to see if any lessons learnt can be applied to the mining industry. Questions asked during the interviews included: What is the role of research? How can knowledge and technology be transferred? How can people be persuaded to change their behaviour to improve their health and safety?

4.2.1Crime Prevention

The CSIR Crime Prevention Centre (CPC) offers a multidisciplinary and integrated view of crime prevention. Conventional approaches, thoroughly researched and understood, are supported, sustained or improved by the application of various technologies and practical partnership interventions. The CPC has two components:

The National Crime Prevention Research Resources Centre (RRC), funded by the Department of Arts and Culture, works from a multidisciplinary platform on the subject of crime and violence prevention and facilitates the building of bridges and partnerships between the research community, non-governmental organisations and policy makers. The RRC has experience in participatory leadership and creative facilitation; research and organisation development; working in law enforcement environments, education, schools, multi-departmental partnerships and youth; project planning, specification and funding applications; and mentorship, capacity building and training. These aims are achieved through learning from research projects, existing interventions, and problem solving. Interventions are then developed and tested against practical, scientifically measured applications.

The Technology for Improved Safety, Security and Effectiveness in the Criminal Justice System Unit focuses on technical innovation, technology deployment, and knowledge management in the following three key domains:

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  New knowledge generation: To becoming recognised nationally as a centre of excellence for research on aspects of law enforcement to facilitate product development and to leverage technical research in support of law enforcement.
  
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  Technology partnerships and capacity building: To becoming the preferred technology partner to local criminal justice and law enforcement agencies, with the objective of both supporting the agencies and building technical capacity in these agencies. (CPC acts as main contractor, with CSIR divisions providing the key technical support functions).
  
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  Contracted problem solving: Applying multidisciplinary CSIR expertise in technological innovation in solving crime-prevention and law-enforcement problems.
  

During the interview, Dr Barend Taute described how the CPC initially focused on technology when it was founded in 1998, but subsequently realised how important people, processes and cooperation were for interventions to succeed. By way of example, he described efforts to improve the control of South Africa’s borders. Several government departments are involved: Home Affairs, Immigration, Customs, and Police. Numerous opportunities for fraud, corruption and human error exist. It was necessary for the departments to reach agreement on the capturing and sharing of information. Also, it is somewhat futile to sort things out at border posts if the border can easily be crossed elsewhere.

Dr Taute described the process that had been followed to help the South African Police Service (SAPS) develop a technology strategy. The CPC had started by conducting interviews with teams from the main divisions, asking the question “What equipment do you need?” They found out that this was the wrong starting point. A better approach was to ask, “What capability gaps do you have?” and what equipment, skills, and processes (i.e. the way in which technology is applied, such as standard operating procedures, policies) were required to fill the gaps. Dr Taute emphasized that a strategic and holistic view is essential if technology is to be successfully selected, developed, and implemented. It was found that many relevant technologies had applications that straddled existing organisational structures. For example, while the helicopter service provided by the Air Wing was expensive, it was of benefit to many other divisions. Priorities were set using a process that assessed the potential impact of a technology in terms of the SAPS’s strategic priorities and key performance indicators. The following steps were followed in developing the technology strategy:

1. 
   Identify needs and technology with potential: set requirements, develop ideas, and develop foresight.
   
2. 
   Select the best or most appropriate technology: screen, rank, score, and decide.
   
3. 
   Acquire/develop: understand the user requirements, develop the specification, and call for tenders.
   
4. 
   Deploy: distribute, train, use, maintain.
   
5. 
   Evaluate: Ask whether the technology delivered the expected benefits. Review performance and lessons learnt.
   

Dr Taute gave several examples of attempts to implement technology to combat crime:

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  An electronic system to monitor the perimeter of a prison and warder duty cycles. The system failed because no money had been budgeted for its maintenance, the warders resented being monitored, it was viewed as an extra workload by those required to operate the system, and the responsibility for operating the system was not clearly assigned.
  
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  A “smart firearm” that would only fire in the hand of the registered owner. While it was a good idea, no one was prepared to place a sufficiently large order to make production commercially viable.
  
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  Polyurethane foam that could be injected into containers to render the cash in transit unusable in the case of a heist. Over one hundred ideas had been carefully considered, before a “winner” was identified. The client had provided long-term commitment.
  

It has been recommended that the SAPS establish a Science and Technology Centre, possibly through a contract with the CSIR. In this way it would not be necessary to put every project out to tender, which severely retards the ability to act swiftly when a need arises.

4.2.2Road safety

The CSIR Transportek Traffic Management Program aims to provide government agencies responsible for road safety, and transport authorities with strategic, technical, and analytical tools needed for realising the national traffic management objectives. It delivers services to a wide spectrum of clients at central-, provincial-, and local-government level, as well as a number of non-governmental organisations and the private sector. During an interview, Dr Pieter Venter and Ms Elna van Niekerk explained the philosophy of road safety research and described several projects that they had been involved in.

While social and behavioural issues are very important in traffic management and road safety, sound infrastructure is seen as a prerequisite. An environment should be created where it is very difficult for people to do the wrong thing. For example, there is no safe way for a pedestrian to cross a highway. A bridge or subway must be built and people forced to use it. However, problems sometimes arise that have not been foreseen by town planners and traffic engineers. For example, thugs may force bridge users to pay tolls, or people in rural areas may be afraid to use high bridges in case they “faint and fall off”. Researchers “walked and talked” with children to find out why they crossed roads in dangerous places on the way to school. It was found that they were afraid of being kidnapped if they walked past a hostel for migrant workers, or of falling in and drowning in a dam if they walked near it.

Transportek has made use of “social marketing” concepts to encourage behavioural change. These are different in several important respects from conventional commercial marketing aimed at persuading people to purchase products.

1. 
   Begin with an analysis of the risks in a situation, and identify those that you want to address;
   
2. 
   Seek to understand the target group using methodologies such as focus groups and participant observation; and
   
3. 
   Develop the “social message” that you want to convey.
   

Venter and Van Niekerk also explained the concept of “risk homeostasis” developed by traffic sociologists: the greater the improvement in the environment and driving skills, the greater the risk-taking behaviour. For example, people may feel more confident after taking an advanced driving course, or may drive faster if the road condition is improved. This can be countered by making the environment appear more dangerous than it is.

Venter and Van Niekerk commented on the role of enforcement and education. If there is no enforcement, people ignore rules. Enforcement without understanding breeds resentment. Enforcement with understanding gives the best result. People must “believe that they will get caught”. Unfortunately, bad behaviour is often rewarded, e.g. the first person away from the line at a traffic light gets ahead. It is important to change people’s values, e.g. their respect for life. This is difficult as values are deep-seated. It was thought that you first had to change a value, then attitude, and lastly behaviour. Social scientists now believe that this can work in reverse: behavioural change can lead to attitude change, which can lead to value change. Transportek has investigated driving problems at Ingwe Colliery. It has been concluded that problems arise from risk-taking behaviour and complacency, not from inadequate training. It was recommended that a consistent lifestyle, on and off the mine property, had to be promoted. Similarly, the risks of public transportation (buses, mini-bus taxis) have been analysed. The researchers found that training is not the solution, as most drivers can actually handle their vehicles well. The major problems are recklessness, speed, and poor roadworthiness.

Venter and Van Niekerk described the unforeseen consequences that may arise when the introduction of a new technology changes the environment. For example, when a tarred road is built through a rural area, settlements soon spring up, roadside trading takes place, and the verge is used by pedestrians and grazing animals. People are often unfamiliar with vehicles travelling at high speed and do not appreciate the reaction time of drivers or limitations in visual perception. The road engineer may not foresee these changes in a previously sparsely populated area.

4.2.3HIV/AIDS management

CSIR Mining Technology has a team of social science and public health experts that develop and manage programmes focusing on HIV/AIDS intervention, poverty alleviation, and socio-economic development. Situational analyses are conducted to help create strategies that integrate community development needs with mines corporate investment programmes. These programmes have formed the basis for community development projects such as the Powerbelt project in the coal sector, the Circle of Hope project in the platinum sector, and the Lesedi and Carletonville-Mothusimpilo projects in the Free State and Far West Rand gold fields, respectively.

Dr Hlombe Makuluma (Programme Manager: Sustainable Development, CSIR Mining Technology) is a medical doctor who previously worked at the Leslie Williams Hospital, which services Gold Fields mines in the Far West Rand. During the interview, Dr Makuluma commented that there is often a huge gap between research work and successful implementation that will only be bridged if researchers understand the root causes of human behaviour. Highly educated researchers often have little understanding of the culture, belief systems and life experience of mine workers. Dr Makuluma described conversations he had had with mine workers regarding their attitudes to testing for HIV and the use of condoms. Some of the important issues that emerged are noted below:

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  By exploring the mineworker’s life priorities and reasons for working (e.g. to feed his family, provide his children with a better education, or gain status in his community), the mineworker may come to see that HIV infection is a personal issue that affects people that he cares for, not merely a company issue. This may motivate him to take personal responsibility, determine his HIV status, and to take appropriate actions to prevent infection or seek treatment.
  
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  Detailed intimate information on how to use a condom must be provided to give a person confidence to use it. This information is not typically provided in education campaigns.
  
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  Some mineworkers perceive the risks of dying in rockbursts and rockfalls as far greater and more immediate than the risk of dying of AIDS several years in the future, and thus do not regard it worthwhile to take precautions against HIV infection.
  
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  Culture and context must be taken into account, but are complex and varied. Beliefs may vary between tribes and generations.
  

Dr Matseliso Molapo (Senior Researcher, Social Science and Public Health, CSIR Mining Technology) is a medical anthropologist. Her studies, which culminated in a PhD from Emory University in the USA, embrace biology, anthropology, sociology, and epidemiology. Dr Molapo has participated in the Powerbelt and Carletonville-Mothusimpilo projects. During the interview, Dr Molapo emphasised that a holistic approach should be used to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Both biomedical and socioeconomic factors should be researched and incorporated in any interventions:

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  Biomedical factors that are measured to establish baselines and to evaluate the success of interventions include the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Biomedical research is directed at topics such as improved testing techniques, microbiocides, and vaccines.
  
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  Socioeconomic factors include the demographics of the community (mineworkers, women, youth, commercial sex workers), household income, education, employment rate, and KAP (knowledge, attitudes and practice). Socioeconomic interventions include programmes such as peer-education, social upliftment, provision of clinics, home-based care, vegetable gardens, etc. It was necessary to obtain support for interventions from local, provincial and national government as well as business.
  

Dr Molapo reported that socioeconomic factors correlated most strongly with HIV infection. Most people have knowledge of HIV/AIDS and methods to prevent transmission. However, people who are trapped in poverty are most likely to practise unsafe sex. Sometimes the urgent need to obtain food for hungry children causes a woman to risk having unprotected sex. The risk of dying of AIDS is remote compared to the immediate need, and by then the children would be older and more able to care for themselves. The high level of violence, particularly in informal settlements, also creates the sense that there is little to live for and little to lose. Cultural expectations also make it very difficult for wives to negotiate protected sex with their husbands.

Dr Molapo spent 18 months working on a gold mine during the course of her PhD research. She mentioned several practices and beliefs that influenced the attitudes of mineworkers towards risk-taking and compliance with rules:

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  Reward systems based on production targets and bonuses and competition between individuals and crews. Often factors such as geological problems and equipment breakdown are not taken into account. This may raise stress levels and influence morale.
  
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  Complacency, especially after a long period without incident.
  
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  Cultural attitudes to manhood and masculinity, some of these imparted during initiation schools.
  
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  A belief that workers are protected either by God, their ancestors, or rituals performed by sangomas (traditional healers).
  
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  Operators of powerful machinery such as continuous miners and drill rigs may develop excessive confidence in their own abilities and do not always appreciate the limitations of the equipment or hazards of the environment.
  
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  Workers’ belief in their ability to hear the “rock talk” and sense impending rockfalls and rockbursts.
  

In summary, Dr Molapo held the opinion that there are many cultural and socioeconomic factors that should be taken into account in the development and implementation of technology and the reduction of risk-taking behaviour. It is not sufficient merely to impart knowledge through training without an appreciation of the beliefs and attitudes of the people being trained.

4.2.4Common themes

Several common themes emerged in this review of efforts to develop and implement technology to improve safety and health in the crime prevention, traffic management, and HIV/Aids sectors:

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  The beliefs and attitudes of people affected by the introduction of new technology must be understood and taken into account as early as possible during the innovation cycle.
  
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  A person from a different cultural and educational background cannot easily identify the beliefs and attitudes that could impact on the new technology. Social scientists are able to make valuable contributions to the process.