Reflection On Merriespruit

Reflective Essay about Merriespruit: A mining disaster that happened. 1994. Becoming an engineer was one of the most fun, interesting and well-payed profession in my mind. This is how I use to view engineering discipline. However, the reading about Merriespruit: A mining disaster that happened in 1994. Has changed my mind and made me realize that engineering is challenging, and it comes with a lot of responsibilities at stake. Some of the responsibilities are listed in the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) code of conduct. (Engineering Council of South Africa, 2017). Believe me, I have heard about ECSA and have realized that the university uses it to access our coursework. However, I never paid too much attention to it and not to

I think it’s because they did not follow the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) which addresses all the rights and responsibilities engineers have. One of the objectives ECSA has is that a person registered for it must apply his/her knowledge and skills wisely in the interest of the environment and public, must protect and give priority to public health and safety (Engineering Council of South Africa, 2017). In the case of the Harmony Gold mine, the spillages caused severe harm to the environment and not to mention the loss of people lives. This tells me, that Harmony Gold mine valued production over the safety of people. However, one may argue that shutting down the production would have led to high rate of unemployment and poverty. The shareholders and investors were going to lose a lot of

One of them is the right to a safe and healthy environment. They lost homes and their loved ones because of Harmony Gold mine failed to take the responsibility to ensure the health and safety of the public. To follow procedures of depositing their tailings. It is non-negotiable that every business or company must comply with the environmental laws and follow safety procedures. That it must train their workers before giving them a certain position. Not, to mention that harmony gold mine promoted some personnel that was inexperienced to manage the Merriespruit slime dump. (Chamber of Mines South Africa, 2018). This was apparently done because the mine had no cost to pay the well-skilled people for the position. (Chamber of Mines South Africa, 2018). According to my opinion, that does not give the mine the right to hire unskilled people for a high position. I feel they were supposed, to be honest with their employees and asked them to bear with them in the financial constraint that they were faced with and reach an agreement on how they will compensate them. Rather than, replacing them with unskilled and less knowledge workers. In my opinion and according to the occupational safety laws. It is unacceptable to hire someone for a job they are not qualified for or trained for. Thus, this is the violation of the rights of the unskilled personnel. Companies should stop taking an advantage of unskilled people who are desperate