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.
Prolonged exposure to coal dust leads to various lung disorders, including incurable coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), and endangers miners' health in underground mines. This article summarizes the latest research progress in dust control technology, including chemical dust suppressants, foam dust removal, ultrasonic atomization, magnetized water dust suppression, double curtains of wind and fog, biological nano-film, and emerging microbial dust suppressants in the field of dust. The actual application compares and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different dust removal technologies. The current three directions of mine dust prevention and control are pointed out: the prevention and control of respirable dust, hydrophobic dust, and secondary dust, and the prospects for future development trends. Given the treatment of respirable dust, it is necessary to strengthen the research on the dust generation mechanism under different working conditions and to explore the migration and settlement laws of respirable dust by constructing a numerical model of dust dynamics; for the treatment of hydrophobic dust, further research on the microphysical and chemical properties of coal dust is needed. The relationship between wettability and continuously optimizing the wetting agent; for the prevention and control of secondary dust in coal mines, emerging microbial dust suppression technologies need to be developed to explore the micro-action between microorganisms and coal dust molecules to achieve green prevention and control of dust.
The health and productivity of mining operations are negatively impacted by coal mine fires, making them dangerous. It happened everywhere, in both working and abandoned coal mines. This study seeks to review and provide technical analytics of potential mine fires and fire detection in a Dual-Cab suppression system. Analysis was done on potential mine fires like spontaneous combustion, flammable gas explosions, and cab vehicle fires. Additionally, a review of the NIOSH experiment was conducted to assess the performance of smoke and flame detectors in a dual-cab suppression system. This study guides both open-pit and underground mining operations. Additionally, a few ideas and suggestions are presented to assist with on-the-job safety analysis, ensuing creative alterations, and technology advancement for the mining industry's overall safety.
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