The Influence of Socio-Demographic Characteristics on the Assignment of Roles and Its Associated Occupational Health and Safety Issues in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining: The Case of Amansie Central District, Ghana

Abstract

Enforcement and compliance of occupational safety and health policies and practices remain a major issue in the ASGM industry of Ghana as efforts of corporations and the government remain grey. The study generally utilized the cross-sectional descriptive survey and employed the simple random sampling technique to sample 250 respondents from 3 different mining sites. The findings of the study revealed that gender, age, and work experience had an influence on the assignment of roles in the ASGM. However, educational level had no influence on the assignment of roles. The study further reveals financial well-off as the main reason why most of the respondents engage in ASGM. Generally, most of the respondents were aware of the occupational health and safety hazards associated with ASGM. However, the majority of the respondents do not use PPEs due to the high cost associated with their purchase. Aside from this, failure to arrest defaulters may be a cause as most respondents indicated that none of their colleagues have been arrested for not using PPEs. The findings of the study generally show a downward shift in the implementation and enforcement of occupational health and safety policies and practices in the ASGM industry in Ghana. Therefore, the study recommends the organization of periodic safety pieces of training by accountable regulators for ASGM miners.

Keywords: Safety, Mining, Occupational Hazards, Occupational Health, Occupational Accidents