Willem Le Roux

ENSafrica and Willem Le Roux

The content for LexisNexis Practical Guide Mine Health and Safety is written by Willem Le Roux, the Executive Consultant of ENSafrica's Mine and Occupational Health and Safety (MOHS) Department. ENSafrica is the only law firm in Africa with a dedicated team of MOHS specialists, and the MOHS Department’s senior practitioners have more than 60 years of combined experience.

ENSafrica acts for a wide range of international mining houses and multinational corporates and advises them on compliance with MOHS law, including the South African Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), the South African Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHASA) and legislation regarding compensation for work-related deaths, injuries and diseases. Willem’s expert knowledge has enabled him to be the leading lawyer in some of the mining industry's largest matters and he is also highly ranked by various reputable international ranking agencies.

Willem has successfully acted in several large and extensive litigation matters for some of the foremost chemical and metal corporations and mining houses. His expertise has been enlisted for high-profile inquests, inquiries, litigation and criminal prosecutions.

Willem represented the Chamber of Mines in the Leon Commission, whose report gave rise to the enactment of the MHSA. He regularly comments on proposed amendments to South African mine health and safety legislation and compensation legislation. Willem also lectured for several years until 2017 to graduates and LLM students in prospecting and mining law courses presented by the Mandela Institute of the University of Witwatersrand.

He is the author of LexisNexis’ Mine Health and Safety Law, a loose-leaf commentary on the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996, and is also the co-author of the Commentary to the Construction Regulations, 2014, as well as Occupational Health and Safety Law, a loose-leaf commentary on the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 with Pieter Colyn, a director and the head of ENSafrica's MOHS Department.

The team members of ENSafrica's MOHS Department are not just experts in the law, what sets them apart is their deep knowledge and understanding of mining and heavy industry, including complex technical issues such as rock engineering, geology, seismology, construction and general engineering. Their market-leading reputation has enabled them to appear in some of the industry's largest and foremost mine and occupational accidents and disasters.

Team members of ENSafrica's MOHS Department appear personally in informal investigations, formal inquiries and inquests. They also assist with criminal prosecutions and civil court proceedings, as far as such matters relate to MOHS law.