Date | March 23, 2015: Indian president Pranab Mukherjee calls for greater management of health and safety issues in the mining industry, urging that these occupational hazards should be resolved at a mining and business level.

Whilst presenting National Safety Awards for the mining industry, the president said that in terms of health and safety in the work place, it is necessary to implement a “a multi-pronged strategy”.

He explained that the government has already employed this including updated legislation, self-regulation, involvement of workers in safety management and the introduction of a safety management system which is based upon a risk assessment of the workplace.

President Mukherjee is confident that this approach has resulted in a “steady decline” in fatalities across India mines.

He added that despite the government’s success in the strategy, “there are emerging challenges to face.”

The president said that expansion of mining operations, increasing mechanised operations and extension of mining projects into areas with “adverse geo-mining conditions” are all obstacles facing further health and safety improvements.

To tackle such challenges, Mukherjee said that they must be dealt with at the mine and business level and called for further implementation of information technology solutions to protect workers from occupational hazards.

He stated that the “introduction of state-of-the-art technology in mining activity can lead to improvement in safety, besides productivity and financial gains. Another important factor that can elevate safety standards and prevent accidents is training of the mining workforce.”

(Source: http://www.mininginnovationnews.com/)

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