Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.

<h4>Background</h4>The importance of goldmining to Ghana's development cannot be overestimated. However, the associated morbidities and mortalities resulting from occupational exposure to health hazards and the general cost associated with it is critical. In managing occupational he...

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Autor principal: Simon Appah Aram
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Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:14a4b530cecf4653a5857e872584e5862021-12-02T20:09:13ZManaging occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0254449https://doaj.org/article/14a4b530cecf4653a5857e872584e5862021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254449https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>The importance of goldmining to Ghana's development cannot be overestimated. However, the associated morbidities and mortalities resulting from occupational exposure to health hazards and the general cost associated with it is critical. In managing occupational health, a simple comprehension of the main determinants of the problem is required.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional survey of 504 goldminers was fitted to a nested binary logistic regression model to evaluate the independent effect of subsector departments, compositional attributes, contextual factors and working conditions on goldminers' likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.<h4>Results</h4>Subsector department was robust and persisted in predicting experiencing occupational related health problems in all three models. Goldminers who were in artisanal small scale (ASM) non-production, large scale (LSM) production and LSM non-production were less likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their counterparts in ASM production. For the compositional factors, female goldminers were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their male co-workers. Goldminers who were married and also older miners were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to the unmarried and the relatively younger goldminers. At the contextual level, miners who worked on shift-based schedule and also miners who lived close to mine sites were more likely to experience occupational related health problems. Among the working conditions, goldminers who worked in good health conditions were less likely to experience occupational related health problems. Surprisingly, goldminers who rated their safety conditions as good were more likely to experience occupational related health problems.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Gold miners are exposed to different health risk scenarios across subsectors and departments. These conditions need critical attention and action from industry stakeholders. Programs that promote self-care culture should be promoted, especially in the ASM subsector. PPE's could be relied on for protection in the mining industry but they should be the last line of defense and not to replace preventive measures and actions.Simon Appah AramPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0254449 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Simon Appah Aram
Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
description <h4>Background</h4>The importance of goldmining to Ghana's development cannot be overestimated. However, the associated morbidities and mortalities resulting from occupational exposure to health hazards and the general cost associated with it is critical. In managing occupational health, a simple comprehension of the main determinants of the problem is required.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional survey of 504 goldminers was fitted to a nested binary logistic regression model to evaluate the independent effect of subsector departments, compositional attributes, contextual factors and working conditions on goldminers' likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.<h4>Results</h4>Subsector department was robust and persisted in predicting experiencing occupational related health problems in all three models. Goldminers who were in artisanal small scale (ASM) non-production, large scale (LSM) production and LSM non-production were less likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their counterparts in ASM production. For the compositional factors, female goldminers were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their male co-workers. Goldminers who were married and also older miners were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to the unmarried and the relatively younger goldminers. At the contextual level, miners who worked on shift-based schedule and also miners who lived close to mine sites were more likely to experience occupational related health problems. Among the working conditions, goldminers who worked in good health conditions were less likely to experience occupational related health problems. Surprisingly, goldminers who rated their safety conditions as good were more likely to experience occupational related health problems.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Gold miners are exposed to different health risk scenarios across subsectors and departments. These conditions need critical attention and action from industry stakeholders. Programs that promote self-care culture should be promoted, especially in the ASM subsector. PPE's could be relied on for protection in the mining industry but they should be the last line of defense and not to replace preventive measures and actions.
format article
author Simon Appah Aram
author_facet Simon Appah Aram
author_sort Simon Appah Aram
title Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
title_short Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
title_full Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
title_fullStr Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
title_full_unstemmed Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
title_sort managing occupational health among goldminers in ghana: modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/14a4b530cecf4653a5857e872584e586
work_keys_str_mv AT simonappaharam managingoccupationalhealthamonggoldminersinghanamodellingthelikelihoodofexperiencingoccupationalrelatedhealthproblems
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