Occupational Hearing Loss for Platinum Miners in South Africa: A Case Study of Data Sharing Practices and Ethical Challenges in the Mining Industry

Background: The relevant legislation ensures confidentiality and has paved the way for data handling and sharing. However, the industry remains uncertain regarding big data handling and sharing practices for improved healthcare delivery and medical research. Methods: A semi-qualitative cross-sectional study was used which entailed analysing miners’ personal health records from 2014 to 2018. Data were accessed from the audiometry medical surveillance database (n = 480), the hearing screening database (n = 24,321), and the occupational hygiene database (n = 15,769). Ethical principles were applied to demonstrate big data protection and sharing. Results: Some audiometry screening and occupational hygiene records were incomplete and/or inaccurate (N = 4675). The database containing medical disease and treatment records could not be accessed. Ethical challenges included a lack of clarity regarding permission rights when sharing big data, and no policy governing the divulgence of miners’ personal and medical records for research. Conclusion: This case study illustrates how research can be effectively, although not maliciously, obstructed by the strict protection of employee medical data. Clearly communicated company policies should be developed for the sharing of workers’ records in the mining industry to improve HCPs.

The Possibilities of Simultaneous Operation (SIMOPs) and Practicality of Positive Pressure Habitat in a Hazardous Industry: Where Process Safety Meets Occupational Hygiene

High risk industrial facilities require operational shutdowns to undertake maintenance activities when the interaction between maintenance activities and facility processes are potentially explosive. This study presents a model that circumvents this interaction thereby enabling simultaneous operations flammable hydrocarbon facility while hot work progresses. A mixed study in which qualitative data on Simultaneous Operation (SIMOPs) of a hydrocarbon facility, hot work and deployment of Positive Pressure Habitat were generated through a walk-through survey. Quantitative data on the exposures within and around the hot work activities were generated using air quality monitor to measure the concentration of welding particulates, portable ozone meter used to measure the ozone level, sound level meter to measure ambient noise level, personal noise dosimeter to measure personal noise level, Multi-gas Meter. While concentrations of chemical parameter, temperature, relative humidity, habitat pressure were not in exceedance of exposure limits; the average noise level and particulate matter (PM) 2.5 within the habitat were 87 – dB(A) and 65 µg/m3 respectively. The exceedances in noise and PM2.5 level was mitigated using hearing protection, respirator and local exhaust ventilation (LEV). A simultaneous operation involving live hydrocarbon facility and hot works was achieved using the Positive Pressure Habitat (PPH) as a buffer between flammable work environment and thermal energy emitted from hot work activities. Chemical pollutants were introduced by maintenance activities within the habitat but was however mitigated through occupational hygiene measures. This study validates the possibility of simultaneous operation in the event of two mutually explosive scenarios with the aid of process safety equipment’s and occupational hygiene measurements and control measures. Globally, downtimes in high risk industries occasioned by maintenance activities could be prevented by deploying process safety and occupational hygiene control strategies concurrently.

Occupational Health Hazards: Employer, Employee, and Labour Union Concerns

This review paper examines the extent of employer, worker, and labour union concerns to occupational health hazard exposure, as a function of previously reported and investigated complaints. Consequently, an online literature search was conducted, encompassing publicly available reports resulting from investigations, regulatory inspection, and enforcement activities conducted by relevant government structures from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the three countries’ government structures, the United States’ exposure investigative activities conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health returned literature search results aligned to the study design, in the form of health hazard evaluation reports reposited on its online database. The main initiators of investigated exposure cases were employers, workers, and unions at 86% of the analysed health hazard evaluation reports conducted between 2000 and 2020. In the synthesised literature, concerns to exposure from chemical and physical hazards were substantiated by occupational hygiene measurement outcomes confirming excessive exposures above regulated health and safety standards in general. Recommendations to abate the confirmed excessive exposures were made in all cases, highlighting the scientific value of occupational hygiene measurements as a basis for exposure control, informing risk and hazard perception. Conclusively, all stakeholders at the workplace should have adequate risk perception to trigger abatement measures.

Funciones que caracterizan la gestión de seguridad industrial, ambiente e higiene ocupacional

Son innumerables las ventajas que representa para cualquier organización contarcon la gestión en seguridad industrial, ambiente e higiene ocupacional, es por ello queen este artículo se buscó describir las funciones que la caracterizan en el contexto delas empresas prestadoras de servicio de inspección de equipos estáticos a la industriapetrolera. Metodológicamente se tipificó como descriptiva, con diseño de campo, noexperimental y transeccional. Para la recolección de datos se utilizó un cuestionario,conformado por 12 ítems con escala de frecuencia. La validez se realizó a través deljuicio de expertos, y para calcular su confiabilidad se empleó el método de Alfa deCronbach, obteniéndose 0,96. La media aritmética se aplicó para el análisis de losdatos. Se caracterizó un conjunto de etapas que instrumentan los cursos de acciónrequeridos por la gestión, en tal sentido, se evidencio moderada presencia en laspolíticas; organización; planificación y evaluación.Palabras clave: Evaluación, funciones, gestión en seguridad industrial, ambiente ehigiene ocupacional, organización, planificación, políticasThere are countless advantages for any organization to have management inindustrial safety, environment and occupational hygiene, which is why this articlesought to describe the functions that characterize it in the context of companiesproviding equipment inspection service static to the oil industry. Methodologically itwas typified as descriptive, with a field design, not experimental and transectional. Fordata collection, a questionnaire was used, consisting of 12 items with a frequency scale.Validity was carried out through expert judgment, and the Cronbach's Alpha methodwas used to calculate its reliability, obtaining 0.96. The arithmetic mean was applied toanalyze the data. A set of stages that implement the courses of action required bymanagement was characterized, in this sense, a moderate presence in policies wasevident; organization; planning and evaluation.Key words: Evaluation, functions, industrial safety management, environment andoccupational hygiene, organization, planning, policies