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Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is inherently risky, but little is known about mining-associated hazards and injuries despite the tremendous growth worldwide of ASGM and the benefits it offers. The current study aimed to characterize the physical injuries associated with ASGM in Ghana t...

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Autores principales: Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L., Ovadje, Lauretta, Clarke, Edith, Basu, Niladri, Robins, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4515700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26184264
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120707922
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author Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L.
Ovadje, Lauretta
Clarke, Edith
Basu, Niladri
Robins, Thomas
author_facet Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L.
Ovadje, Lauretta
Clarke, Edith
Basu, Niladri
Robins, Thomas
author_sort Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L.
collection PubMed
description Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is inherently risky, but little is known about mining-associated hazards and injuries despite the tremendous growth worldwide of ASGM and the benefits it offers. The current study aimed to characterize the physical injuries associated with ASGM in Ghana to guide policy formulation. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Tarkwa mining district of the Western Region of Ghana in 2014. A total of 404 small-scale miners were recruited and interviewed regarding their occupational injury experiences over the preceding 10 years using a paper-based structured questionnaire. Nearly one-quarter (23.5%) of the miners interviewed reported getting injured over the previous 10 years, and the overall injury rate was calculated to be 5.39 per 100 person years. The rate was significantly higher for women (11.93 per 100 person years) and those with little mining experience (e.g., 25.31 per 100 person years for those with less than one year of work experience). The most injury-prone mining activities were excavation (58.7%) and crushing (23.1%), and over 70% of the injuries were reported to be due to miners being hit by an object. The majority of the injuries (57%) were lacerations, and nearly 70% of the injuries were to the upper or lower limbs. Approximately one-third (34.7%) of the injuries resulted in miners missing more than two weeks of work. One-quarter of the injured workers believed that abnormal work pressure played a role in their injuries, and nearly two-fifths believed that their injuries could have been prevented, with many citing personal protective equipment as a solution. About one-quarter of the employees reported that their employers never seemed to be interested in the welfare or safety of their employees. These findings greatly advance our understanding of occupational hazards and injuries amongst ASGM workers and help identify several intervention points.
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spelling pubmed-45157002015-07-28 Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L. Ovadje, Lauretta Clarke, Edith Basu, Niladri Robins, Thomas Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is inherently risky, but little is known about mining-associated hazards and injuries despite the tremendous growth worldwide of ASGM and the benefits it offers. The current study aimed to characterize the physical injuries associated with ASGM in Ghana to guide policy formulation. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Tarkwa mining district of the Western Region of Ghana in 2014. A total of 404 small-scale miners were recruited and interviewed regarding their occupational injury experiences over the preceding 10 years using a paper-based structured questionnaire. Nearly one-quarter (23.5%) of the miners interviewed reported getting injured over the previous 10 years, and the overall injury rate was calculated to be 5.39 per 100 person years. The rate was significantly higher for women (11.93 per 100 person years) and those with little mining experience (e.g., 25.31 per 100 person years for those with less than one year of work experience). The most injury-prone mining activities were excavation (58.7%) and crushing (23.1%), and over 70% of the injuries were reported to be due to miners being hit by an object. The majority of the injuries (57%) were lacerations, and nearly 70% of the injuries were to the upper or lower limbs. Approximately one-third (34.7%) of the injuries resulted in miners missing more than two weeks of work. One-quarter of the injured workers believed that abnormal work pressure played a role in their injuries, and nearly two-fifths believed that their injuries could have been prevented, with many citing personal protective equipment as a solution. About one-quarter of the employees reported that their employers never seemed to be interested in the welfare or safety of their employees. These findings greatly advance our understanding of occupational hazards and injuries amongst ASGM workers and help identify several intervention points. MDPI 2015-07-10 2015-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4515700/ /pubmed/26184264 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120707922 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Calys-Tagoe, Benedict N. L.
Ovadje, Lauretta
Clarke, Edith
Basu, Niladri
Robins, Thomas
Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title_full Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title_fullStr Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title_short Injury Profiles Associated with Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tarkwa, Ghana
title_sort injury profiles associated with artisanal and small-scale gold mining in tarkwa, ghana
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4515700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26184264
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120707922
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