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Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is often associated with no or compromised attention to health and safety. Although headlines of fatal accidents in Zimbabwe characterise ASGM, little attention is paid to prevention strategies. This study, therefore, explores health and safety risk mitig...

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Autores principales: Singo, Josephine, Moyo, Dingani, Isunju, John Bosco, Bose-O’Reilly, Stephan, Steckling-Muschack, Nadine, Becker, Jana, Mamuse, Antony
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9659187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36361232
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114352
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author Singo, Josephine
Moyo, Dingani
Isunju, John Bosco
Bose-O’Reilly, Stephan
Steckling-Muschack, Nadine
Becker, Jana
Mamuse, Antony
author_facet Singo, Josephine
Moyo, Dingani
Isunju, John Bosco
Bose-O’Reilly, Stephan
Steckling-Muschack, Nadine
Becker, Jana
Mamuse, Antony
author_sort Singo, Josephine
collection PubMed
description Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is often associated with no or compromised attention to health and safety. Although headlines of fatal accidents in Zimbabwe characterise ASGM, little attention is paid to prevention strategies. This study, therefore, explores health and safety risk mitigation in ASGM in Zimbabwe to inform prevention strategies. A qualitative design was used with focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, coding, and descriptive statistics. Reported factors contributing to compromised health and safety included immediate causes, workplace factors, ASM related factors, and contextual factors, with interconnectedness between the causal factors. In addition, factors related to ASGM were significant. For risk mitigation, formalisation, organisation of risk reduction, behaviour change, and enforcement of prevention strategies is proposed. A multi-causal analysis is recommended for risk assessment and accident investigation. A multi-stakeholder approach could be considered for risk mitigation including community and public health interventions. However, risk mitigation has been characterised by gaps and weaknesses such as lacking ASM policy, lack of capital, poor enforcement, negative perceptions, and non-compliance. Therefore, we recommend addressing the threats associated with health and safety mitigation to ensure health and safety protection in ASGM.
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spelling pubmed-96591872022-11-15 Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe Singo, Josephine Moyo, Dingani Isunju, John Bosco Bose-O’Reilly, Stephan Steckling-Muschack, Nadine Becker, Jana Mamuse, Antony Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is often associated with no or compromised attention to health and safety. Although headlines of fatal accidents in Zimbabwe characterise ASGM, little attention is paid to prevention strategies. This study, therefore, explores health and safety risk mitigation in ASGM in Zimbabwe to inform prevention strategies. A qualitative design was used with focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, coding, and descriptive statistics. Reported factors contributing to compromised health and safety included immediate causes, workplace factors, ASM related factors, and contextual factors, with interconnectedness between the causal factors. In addition, factors related to ASGM were significant. For risk mitigation, formalisation, organisation of risk reduction, behaviour change, and enforcement of prevention strategies is proposed. A multi-causal analysis is recommended for risk assessment and accident investigation. A multi-stakeholder approach could be considered for risk mitigation including community and public health interventions. However, risk mitigation has been characterised by gaps and weaknesses such as lacking ASM policy, lack of capital, poor enforcement, negative perceptions, and non-compliance. Therefore, we recommend addressing the threats associated with health and safety mitigation to ensure health and safety protection in ASGM. MDPI 2022-11-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9659187/ /pubmed/36361232 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114352 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Singo, Josephine
Moyo, Dingani
Isunju, John Bosco
Bose-O’Reilly, Stephan
Steckling-Muschack, Nadine
Becker, Jana
Mamuse, Antony
Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title_full Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title_fullStr Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title_short Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe
title_sort health and safety risk mitigation among artisanal and small-scale gold miners in zimbabwe
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9659187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36361232
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114352
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