Occupational health and safety challenges reported by women in selected South African gold and platinum mines

摘要

Historically, the South African mining industry has been a male-dominated sector and the employment of women in this sector is relatively new. Compared to their male counterparts, women in mining have unique health and safety needs due to their anatomical and physiological makeup. Currently there is a paucity of published data on health and safety concerns and issues pertaining to women in mining. A cross-sectional descriptive ¬survey was conducted among 118 women working in two purposively selected South African gold and platinum mines, to explore occupational health and safety challenges reported by the women. Results showed that they faced ¬challenges related to personal protective equipment and underground environmental conditions, such as unhygienic sanitary amenities. Some of the health conditions they reported may be related to such challenges. Improvement of PPE and underground sanitary amenities is vital to promote their health.