Tools improvement associated with adequate training seem to be the basis of accident prevention. Availability of suitable medical care should improve artisanal miners' recovery after accidents.
Objective: While artisanal mining takes place in casual framework and with total ignorance of good practices, few studies have focused on the origin of hazards specific to each workplace constitutive of this exploitation facility. Nevertheless, this study is a condition of an efficient occupational health and safety control in this sector. Materials and Method: We took the effort to identify different workplaces, as well as hazards specific to each of them, through the observation and analysis of the tasks, tools and the processes related to their use applied in the Ruashi artisanal mine. Results: The investigated exploitation facility consists of five workplaces: diggers (60% -in charge of mineralized gangue recovery); crushers; washers; hand-made furnace workers (in charge of various treatment processes); and loaders (in charge of packing the obtained material). Beside the risks common to these various workplaces and ensuing notably from the lack of hygiene and working in bad positions, operating in underground galleries, in particular, exposes diggers to the risks connected with collapsing parts of the mine, suffocation, dehydration or fine particles in the breathed air. Crushers are especially exposed to traumatism risks, notably ocular, and loaders are exposed to risks related to handling heavy loads. These risks are connected with the mining processes because, in spite of the similarity of tools, they appear less often in other forms of artisanal exploitation described in literature. It is notable in the case of crushing in sawed gas bottles where ocular trauma risk is decreased. It was also shown that humidification of work surface reduces dust particles emission into the air. Conclusions: Hazards identification, through a tools and processes description, has the advantage of providing information on reducing the occurrence of these risks. It shows that this reduction is not necessarily a consequence of the activity mechanization degree.
Introduction: This survey aims at proposing reference values of metals in the hair, in the copper-belt (Province of Katanga). Materials and methods: We ran a descriptive study, in an etiologic perspective, on a sample of non-industrial population, constituted by students of the University of Lubumbashi, healthy and without medical treatment (n = 109). Hair samples were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results: Twenty metals were identified and quantified: aluminium, antimony, silver, barium, cadmium, calcium, cerium, chromium, cobalt, copper, tin, iron, magnesium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead, vanadium, and zinc. Discussion: Regarding similar surveys ran upon european noindustrial populations, our results are ranging in the same percentiles. They spread out those percentiles only when our results were too close to quantification limits (silver, tin, mercury, nickel and vanadium). For certain metals, in particular aluminium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and lead, we have obtained higher contents. Several reasons can explain this specificity: ICP-MS sensitivity, analysis and preparation technique difference, diet difference or simply public health issues.. . Conclusion: Our results are close to others surveys' values. They can be validated as reference values for Katanga general population and used to highlight occupational exposure.
IntroductionLe transport en commun urbain constitue un secteur où les travailleurs sont très exposés aux accidents du travail. Cette étude visait une description épidémiologique des accidents du travail dans le secteur informel du transport en commun à Kinshasa en vue d'apporter les pistes d'amélioration de la sécurité des travailleurs dans cette activité.MéthodesUn questionnaire sur les accidents du travail, administré en Décembre 2012 a permis d'explorer les tendances significatives entre les accidents et leurs circonstances, leurs facteurs associés, leurs conséquences au sein d'une population des travailleurs (n = 472) du transport en commun à Kinshasa.RésultatsDurant les 12 derniers précédant l’étude 76.5% des travailleurs ont connu au moins un accident du travail, 54,8% ont connu un arrêt d'au moins 1jour. Les accidents liés à la circulation routière étaient plus important suivis des chutes. Les facteurs ayant montré des différences significatives étaient le travail sous l'influence de l'alcool et le port des équipements de protection individuelle. Les plaies (46,3%) et les contusions (39,4%) étaient les lésions les plus courantes. Les membres supérieurs (51,3%) et inférieurs (30,7%) étaient les plus atteints. 76,6% des travailleurs ont assumé seuls leur prise en charge médicale.ConclusionL'incidence des accidents du travail dans ce secteur est très élevée. La mise en place d'une politique de prévention et gestion de différents facteurs associés ainsi qu'un système de déclaration d'accidents est nécessaire dans ce secteur. Les patrons ainsi que les politiques devraient veiller à une prise en charge médicale correcte pour des travailleurs accidentés.
Materials and Methods Sampling and data collection The target population in this study consists of all artisanal miners in the Province of Katanga. The sample population is made up of artisanal miners operating in the mine of Ruashi, formerly known as Star Mine, located in the south of the Katanga copper belt. The sample consists of 100 miners.
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