Document rpvm7e1GgD5wd072x0N4LNjDG

LET'S GET CRACKING By W. W. NELSON (Assistant Public Relations Adviser, Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines) Mr. W. W. Nelson "IVTO one will ever know how many men have been killed ' by dust since gold mining started on the Rand in 1886. The bad old days were really bad. Respiratory diseases were the main cause of death among workmen in a variety of occupations, including factory work, in the 19th Century. Various lung diseases included anthracosis ("coal miner's lung"), siderosis ("knife-grinder's lung"), silicosis ("stone mason's lung"). The tin miners in Cornwall had a very high death rate from diseases of the lungs. By and large these occupational diseases were, in those days, philosophically accepted as inevitable. The hazards peculiar to Witwatersrand gold mines were not immediately realized, because silicosis, or phthisis as it then became known, takes some years to develop in persons exposed to silica dust. It was at about the time of the South African War that the effects of dust exposure first became painfully obvious. Hundreds began to suffer the effects. A large number of men died on the Rand. Many went home ill, and no doubt died of silicosis in such far-off places as Britain, America, Australia, Malawi, Mocambique and many other countries. Some quotations from replies to questions by members of the Miners' Phthisis Commission in 1902-03 make inter esting--and horrifying--reading today. An Australian miner, Thomas Mclsaac, was asked by the Commission if miners objected to using water jets. "Yes," he said, "a great many would not use it at all." "Was it because they found they could work quicker without it?" "Yes." "They would sooner have the dust and get ill?" "Exactly." One miner from Durham told the Commission that he had never seen a jet of water used in a gold mine to damp down dust from blasting operations. And so they died in their hundreds, while continuing to more or less ignore the dust peril. The Inspector of Mines for the Transvaal calculated, early in 1902, that of 1,177 rcckdrill men employed on the Rand prior to the start of the South African War, 225, or 15.75 per cent., were known to have died during the intervening period. Others had probably died, too, said the report. The death toll will never be known. It was a sorry story of indifference on the part of the rockdrillers and ignorance or neglect on the part of the early mine owners. The Commission reported on the "difficulty in keeping the rockdrillers up to the mark owing to their incredible indifference, not to say recklessness . . . THE REEF, January 1968 their indifference . . . means not only their personal loss and suffering, but that in a few years they become a burden on the community". A big step forward in the control of dust was the Mines & Works Act of 1911, which made it an offence for a miner to refuse to use the water supplied for the purpose of allaying the dust. The Act also prevented machine drillers on contract from working excessive hours at the face. We have come a long way since then. Medical research and scientific and engineering advances have very consider ably reduced the risk of ill health due to pneumoconiosis. But have we overcome that indifference spoken of more than sixty years ago? The answer is NO. Too many people are still flouting the regulations brought into being for their own protection. How many are not keeping that rock wet? How many are going back before the proper re-entry time after a blast? How many are not bothering to see that their gangs water down effectively all the way through the shift? How many are running empty scrapers and not bothering to wet the gully properly? How many are not keeping ventilation walls or brattices up to the face? How many are not keeping the water tubes in their machines in good order? How many are not keeping strictly to their blasting times, or blowing out old pipes so that dust gets to other workers, or blowing out holes with compressed air only? THE DAY THESE BAD PRACTICES CAN BE STOPPED PNEUMOCONIOSIS CAN BE PRACTICALLY ELIMINATED FROM OUR MINES. It's almost as simple as that. It's up to the man on the job to watch his health. Let's get cracking and see if we can organize a big change in our mines: let's get rid of the pneumoconiosis peril once and for all. It would be the best New Year resolution any mining man could make. Stoffel Waterman is to appear in a new guise this year --as a film star--to further publicise the anti-dust cam paign. A full-colour cartoon featuring Stoffel will be seen by thousands of men on the mines, and by their families. English or Afrikaans versions of the film will be available to mines. The cartoon emphasizes the nature of the dangerous dust particles created underground and shows Stoffel at work, advising and persuading people to deal with it the safe way. The industry is going all out to help you to stay healthy. Please do your bit and observe the simple rules. Page 9