In March 2025, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy amended Chapter 16 of the Mine Health and Safety Act regulations. Among the changes is a requirement that has direct, practical consequences for every mine in South Africa: Regulation 16.7, the Missing Person Locator System. For mine managers and safety officers, the question is no longer whether to locate people underground — it is how to do it in a way that actually meets the regulation.
This guide explains what Regulation 16.7 requires, who it applies to, and why meeting it is harder than buying any “personnel tracking” product off the shelf.
What MHSA Regulation 16.7 requires
Regulation 16.7 places a clear duty on the employer. In summary, it requires that:
- 16.7(1): No person goes underground without an intrinsically safe device to determine that person’s last known location should they go missing in the underground workings.
- 16.7(2)–(3): At surface mines where a risk assessment shows a significant risk of persons going missing — including being engulfed by slope failure, or by uncontrolled flow of water, broken rock, mud or slimes from a slimes dam — persons must also be provided with a missing persons locating device.
- 16.7(4): Use of the device must form part of the mine’s emergency preparedness and response strategy.
- 16.7(5): The device’s battery life must be informed by the mine’s risk assessment, so that a missing person can be located during and after a working shift.
- 16.7(6): The system must be equipped with a data logging facility — a system that collects, stores and manages the last known location of the wearer over time.
- 16.7(7): All relevant personnel must be trained on its use, and the device must be worn on the body at all times.
- 16.7(8): An effective procedure must cover inspection, repair and maintenance; calibration and testing per the manufacturer’s specifications; and record-keeping of those tests.
This is a plain-language summary. Operators should read the regulation in full and confirm their obligations against their own risk assessment.
Why the compliance bar is higher than it looks
It is tempting to treat 16.7 as “put a tracker on everyone.” In reality, the regulation bundles together several requirements that a single product must satisfy at the same time — and many location or tracking products on the market only meet some of them. The hard parts are usually:
- Intrinsic safety. For underground use, 16.7(1) requires an intrinsically safe device. In South African underground mines with flammable gas or dust, electronics typically need recognised explosion-protection certification (such as IECEx, and local certification under the South African scheme) before they may be used at all. A great deal of generic positioning hardware simply does not carry this certification.
- Last known location, reliably. The system must determine where a person was — not just whether their tag was last “seen” at a reader hundreds of metres away. Coverage and location resolution matter, especially in long, winding workings.
- A true data logging facility. 16.7(6) is explicit: the system must store and manage location over time. A live-only dashboard with no retained history does not meet this.
- Battery life tied to the risk assessment. 16.7(5) requires the device to keep working through the shift and beyond — which rules out devices that cannot reliably last the required duration.
- Worn at all times, and maintained. The device must be genuinely wearable for a full shift, and backed by documented inspection, calibration, testing and records under 16.7(8).
The practical takeaway: compliance is a system-level outcome, not a single feature. A product can be excellent at real-time positioning and still fall short of 16.7 if it lacks certification, history logging, or a maintenance regime.
A procurement checklist for 16.7
When evaluating any missing person locator system against Regulation 16.7, ask:
- Does the underground device carry the intrinsic-safety / explosion-protection certification required for your mine’s atmosphere?
- Can it determine a person’s last known location at a resolution that is useful for rescue?
- Is there a data logging facility that stores location history, not just live status?
- Does battery life cover your full shift plus margin, as informed by your risk assessment?
- Is it comfortably worn on the body for the whole shift?
- Is there a documented inspection, calibration, testing and record-keeping procedure?
- Does it integrate into your wider emergency preparedness and response plan?
How addanode approaches 16.7
addanode works with mines as a solutions partner, not a box-seller. Our role is to understand exactly what a regulation like 16.7 demands — including the parts that are easy to overlook, such as certification, data logging and maintenance — and to help operators design and deploy a real-time location capability that fits their site, their risk assessment and their emergency response strategy.
Because 16.7 is a system-level requirement, we focus on the whole picture: suitable wearable devices, location coverage across the workings, a platform that retains location history, and the integration and processes that make the system defensible in an audit. You can read more about our wider mining IoT and condition monitoring work, or talk to us about your specific obligations.
Frequently asked questions
What does MHSA Regulation 16.7 require?
It requires employers to ensure that persons underground (and, where risk assessment indicates, at certain surface operations) are provided with an intrinsically safe device to determine their last known location if they go missing, supported by a data logging facility, adequate battery life, training, and a maintenance and testing procedure.
Does any personnel tracker satisfy 16.7?
No. The regulation combines several requirements — intrinsic safety, reliable last-known-location, data logging, battery life tied to the risk assessment, and maintenance — that must all be met together. Many products meet only some of them.
Does 16.7 apply to surface mines?
It can. Where a risk assessment shows a significant risk of persons going missing — for example through slope failure, or uncontrolled water, rock, mud or slimes — surface operations must also provide a locating device.
Talk to addanode about Regulation 16.7
Meeting 16.7 is about more than buying hardware — it is about assembling a certified, logged, maintained and integrated system that holds up when it matters. To discuss what compliance looks like for your operation, contact the addanode team.
This article is part of addanode’s South African compliance series. See also: MHSA 8.10.1 and trackless mobile machinery collision prevention, real-time occupational hygiene monitoring in mines, and effluent monitoring and DWS compliance.
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