HARARE: RPAZ Chief Executive Officer, Mr Reward Severa has called on players in the mining industry to develop a safety culture besides mere compliance with the requirements of the law.
Speaking to over 20 stakeholders from the mining sector at RPAZ offices in Harare recently, Mr Severa said the Authority had decided to hold several small meetings with its stakeholders instead of one national one to ensure more close dialogue between the concerned parties.
Mr Severa said the law provides for only the basic levels of safety hence the need for organisations to take it upon themselves to do more than the requirements of the law by making the issue of safety a part of their organizational culture.
Mr Severa made a presentation to the stakeholders which gave a brief background of radiation, NORM and the subsequent progress made on developing the regulations. Progress towards the development of NORM regulations started with a two-year technical study tour in South Africa, then regulations were drafted after which a stakeholder consultation was held in October 2011, followed by the drafting of fees and NORM regulations in December 2011. In July 2012, the NORM fees regulations were gazetted and these were followed a year later in July 2013 by the gazetting of NORM regulations.
At the end of Mr Severa’s presentation, stakeholders were invited to ask questions and share ideas and experiences with the Authority on any issues related to the presentation or to the operations of the Authority.
Generally, stakeholders wanted information on activities of the Authority like licensing and inspections while some wanted to know how licensing fees were utilized. They were also concerned about what they termed, the “burden of regulation” in the mining industry. They called on the responsible authorities to integrate some activities of various regulators to reduce the burden of regulation faced by Zimbabwean industries, especially those in the mining sector.