Version 1
: Received: 8 June 2021 / Approved: 9 June 2021 / Online: 9 June 2021 (08:55:06 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 10 September 2021 / Approved: 13 September 2021 / Online: 13 September 2021 (08:43:37 CEST)
Aram SA, Saalidong BM, Appiah A, Utip IB (2021) Occupational health and safety in mining: Predictive probabilities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0257772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257772
Aram SA, Saalidong BM, Appiah A, Utip IB (2021) Occupational health and safety in mining: Predictive probabilities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0257772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257772
Aram SA, Saalidong BM, Appiah A, Utip IB (2021) Occupational health and safety in mining: Predictive probabilities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0257772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257772
Aram SA, Saalidong BM, Appiah A, Utip IB (2021) Occupational health and safety in mining: Predictive probabilities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0257772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257772
Abstract
Artisanal goldminers in Ghana are exposed to various levels and forms of health, safety and environmental threats. Without the required legislation and regulations, artisanal miners are responsible for their own health and safety at work. Consequently, understanding the probabilities of self-protection at work by artisanal goldminers is crucial. A cross-sectional survey of 500 artisanal goldminers was conducted to examine the probabilities of personal protective equipment use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. The data was subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Initial findings showed that personal protective equipment use among artisanal miners was 77.4%. Overall, higher probabilities of personal protective equipment use was observed among artisanal goldminers who work in good health and safety conditions as compared to artisanal miners who work in poor health and safety conditions. Also, personal protective equipment use was more probable among the highly educated artisanal goldminers, miners who regularly go for medical screening and the most experienced miners. Additionally, personal protective equipment use was more probable among artisanal miners who work in non-production departments and miners who work in the medium scale subsector. Inversely, personal protective equipment use was less probable among female artisanal miners and miners who earn more monthly income ($174 and above). To increase self-care and safety consciousness in artisanal mining, there is the need for a national occupational health and safety legislation in Ghana. Also, interventions and health promotion campaigns for better occupational conditions in artisanal mining should target and revise the health and safety related workplace programs and conditions
Keywords
Artisanal mining; PPE; Occupational factors; Occupational health and safety
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public, Environmental and Occupational Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
13 September 2021
Commenter:
Simon Appah Aram
Commenter's Conflict of Interests:
Author
Comment:
The title of the manuscript has changed. The concept and some key terms have also changed (eg. self-protection has changed to PPE use and the predictive likelihoods have also changed to predictive probabilites)
Commenter: Simon Appah Aram
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author