Examination of occupational health and safety systems in selected mining companies on the Copperbelt province of Zambia
Date
2020
Authors
Sikana, Cynthia
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Abstract
Zambia has a long history of mining and a large known resource base of copper, emeralds,
and other deposits. Despite these benefits, accidents and injuries have continued to occur.
This Study sought to examine Occupational Health and Safety systems of selected mining
companies on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The mining industry is expected to
comply with the ISO 45001 on occupational health and safety. ISO 45001 is an ISO standard
for management systems of occupational health and safety and its goal is to reduce
occupation injuries and diseases. It also promotes and protect physical and mental health.
The mining industry consists of rules that guide them when it comes to occupational health
and safety in order to prevent the occurrence of accidents. These rules include provision for
the supervision of safety and health in mines and inspection of mines by inspectors from the
mine safety department. The provision also involves reporting, investigating of occupational
accidents and compilation and publication of statistics on accidents. Despite the rules and
regulations that guide the industry on occupational health and safety, there has been an
increase in accidents, injuries and diseases in the industry. The purpose of the study was to
examine the nature of occupational health and safety systems in selected mines in Zambia
and to design a sustainable learning programme for occupational health and safety in the
mines. The study was guided by the following objectives: to investigate the perceptions of
occupational health and safety by workers and employers, to establish the importance of
existing occupational health and safety systems at selected mining industries; to examine the
how the existing occupational health and safety system comply with occupational health and
safety authority and to design an educational programme that can be used to improve
learning for occupational health and safety in the mines. A case study was used as a research
design and a sample of 50 participants. The study used probability and non-probability
sampling design. Stratified simple random technique and homogeneous expert purposive
sampling technique were used. Furthermore, a semi-structured interview schedule, semistructured
questionnaire and observation guide were used. Education is an important tool
which can be used to reduce the occurrence of accidents in the mining industry. Therefore,
the Environmental Education context of the study was based on the Global Education
Monitoring Report for 2016. The report states that education is crucial for disaster
preparedness and if education progress is stalled, it could lead to 20% increase in disaster
related fatalities. (GEM, 2016). The study revealed that methods used in training on health
and safety were not effective enough. The results show that the perceptions of workers and
employers to health and safety rules, regulations and guidelines was negative as accidents
were not reported for fear of charges and loss of jobs. Furthermore, the curriculum on health
and safety made it difficult for workers to understand and apply to their work. This was
because the curriculum had a lot of topics which were covered in a week and this made it
difficult for the workers to assimilate and process what they learn’t. Thus, the study
proposed an educational learning programme on health and safety. The study proposed that a
behavioral course for supervisors and managers needed to be introduced in order for them to
understand employee’s behavior towards health and safety. This will enable them to
implement effective health and safety rules.
Keywords: Examining, Occupational Health and Safety System, Mining industry
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Thesis
Keywords
Mine safety--Zambia