Contractors Legal Risk Assessment Responsibility when Doing Business with South African Mines

ABSTRACT
The Mine Health and Safety Act came into operation on 15 January1997. One of the groundbreaking sections that were included in the new Act is Section 21. In Section 21(1) (a) of the Act certain responsibilities are placed on any person who wants to conduct business with any mine.
It is clear that the legislator identified that the contractor would able to identify the issues that can be a contributing factor in accidents and cases of ill health associated with their products.
It can also be reasonably concluded that the legislator realised that, in most cases, the contractor would be in a better position to determine that an article is safe and without risk to health and safety when used properly.
In this article some of the pitfalls and solutions to some of the associated problems have been addressed.
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1. INTRODUCTION
As a result of circumstances prevailing in the mining industry during t...