S tr a t egic Goal 1 RESOL VING LEGA C Y IS SUES Miner als C ouncil and the MBOD T he C ompensa tion Fund adminis t er ed b y the DoH thr ough the Medical Bur eau f or Oc cupa tional Diseases MBOD in t erms of the Oc cupa tional Diseases in Mines and W orks A ct ODMW A w ent thr ough a period of poor adminis tr a tion in the se v er al y ears up t o the appointment of curr ent C ompensa tion C ommis sioner T his fund c o v ers emplo y ees a t mines designa t ed as c ontr olled mines in t erms of ODMW A with claims f or silic osis TB and f our other oc cupa tional lung diseases T he poor adminis tr a tion led t o a buildup of signifcant backlogs and v ery slo w pa yment r a t es Ov er the pas t 10 y ears the Miner als C ouncil has spent about R43 million c ontributing t o impr o v ed pr oc es ses a t the MBOD Much of this has been spent on es tablishing ne w infr as tructur e es tablishing One S t op Medical f acilities digitising hundr eds of thousands of claims fles so tha t outs tanding claims can be mor e easily pr oc es sed In addition sinc e 20 17 the Miner als C ouncil and the gold c ompanies members of the Oc cupa tional Lung Disease W orking Gr oup ha v e sec onded and emplo y ed s taf t o as sis t the MBOD and the C ompensa tion C ommis sioner in addr es sing inquiries fr om f ormer and curr ent miners with both unclaimed r etir ement fund monies see further inf orma tion belo w and c ompensa tion is sues T he Oc cupa tional Lung Disease OLD W orking Gr oup es tablished in 20 15 c omprises six Miner als C ouncil members tha t ha v e been party t o settling the silic osis and TB clas s action litiga tion T he OLD W orking Gr oup has w ork ed particularly closely with the MBOD and the Miner als C ouncil t o the same end ha ving spent c ompar able sums of mone y in this endea v our A t the same time the incr ease in efciencies has led t o an actuarially based r eduction in annual le vies fr om R312 million t o R190 million Ho w e v er it is ac c ept ed betw een the C ommis sioner and the Miner als C ouncil tha t a gr ea t er and mor e sus tainable s t epchange is needed It is in this c ont e xt tha t the C ompensa tion C ommis sioner and the Miner als C ouncil ha v e agr eed t o T he Miner als C ouncil and its members particularly in the gold sect or ha v e been in v olv ed sinc e 2009 in int ensiv e w ork t o impr o v e ac c es s b y f ormer mine w ork ers t o their medical and r etir ement fund benefts f orm a thr ee y ear equal partnership dubbed the C oGo v ernanc e Model under an ODMW A S t eering C ommitt ee t o implement a r ange of pr ojects and initia tiv es tha t will help the ins titutions bec ome an ef ectiv e c ompensa tion fund and adminis tr a t or T he ODMW A S t eering C ommitt ee has prioritised the de v elopment of the C ompensa tion Claims Management S y s t em C CMS a fully electr onic softw ar e solution f or the MBOD T his s y s t em will span the entir e c ompensa tion pr oc es s fr om the arriv al of a pot ential claimant a t an ac cr edit ed Beneft Medical Ex amina tions BME servic e pr o vider t o a claim being submitt ed pr oc es sed and ending with a c ertifca tion fnding F or the C CMS t o oper a t e optimally it will need a single c onsolida t ed mining indus try da tabase of mine emplo y ees and c ontr act ors perf orming risk w ork on c ontr olled mines and w orks or who ha v e perf ormed such w ork in the pas t As no such da tabase e xis ts a t pr esent the C oGo v ernanc e F orum has also prioritised the de v elopment of the Mining Indus try Emplo y ee Da tabase of South A frica which is being undertak en in tandem with the IT pla tf orm Onc e fully oper a tional the C CMS will aid the MBOD in achie ving its tar get of an endt oend c ompensa tion pr oc es s of 90 da y s During the c ourse of the thr ee y ear partnership 14 pr ojects with a R120 million budget pr o vided b y the Miner als C ouncil ha v e been identifed t o impr o v e efciencies within the MBOD and C C OD Among the mos t important ar e Biometric identifca tion s y s t em T he digitisa tion of ches t x r a y s Artifcial int elligenc e diagnos tic t ools T he cr ea tion of a netw ork of BME servic e pr o viders T he impr o v ement of ac c ounting pr actic es Silic osis settlement announc ement P age 56