Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, [email protected]
WOMEN in mining have been urged to play a leading role in occupational health and safety as this is critical to addressing workplace hazards that require formal safety standards, and adherence to health protocols.
Speaking at recent Women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) Conference 2026, Baines Occupational Health Services founder and public health specialist, Dr Florence Moyo, highlighted the importance of creating safe working environments.
“You know, when you are a woman, when you are a mother, wife and sister. So, even when we get into mining, we still have it in us to take care of other people.
“Yes, we want money. We know when mothers have money, they develop their families and communities. We are mothers, we are not like men and in Zimbabwe, they say 20 percent of miners are women. This is why it is important for us to create safe working environments,” she said.
“So, when we talk of a miner or a worker, our aim as people from the health and safety sector is to make sure that you work in a healthy state and in a safe environment. A worker who is healthy, working in a safe environment is confident.”
Dr Moyo emphasized the importance of women miners going for tuberculosis (TB), psoriasis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening, among other diseases.
She said simple things like having a toilet at a mine is important when it comes to health and safety.
“You are the ones who create the safer environment. You are the ones who make sure there is a toilet and that workers have running water. So, for you women in mining as mothers, we are saying also take care of the health and safety of your workers,” said Dr Moyo.
She said preventing occupational injuries and strengthening workplace safety practices was also important for women in mining.
Dr Moyo also spoke of the need to give mine workers healthy food to maintain their health saying this plays a key role in mining operations.
“Let’s send our workers for training to make sure we do proper mining procedures. Let us also buy equipment that we can afford. Sometimes we concentrate mostly on how many grams we are getting, but we need to invest back into proper machinery and equipment,” she said.
Dr Moyo said health and safety should be taken as a culture and as a core business in the mining sector.
She called upon women miners to do hazard identification to check if it was safe where they are working and provide personal protective equipment (PPE) clothing to their workers.
“Now we have what we call silicosis. Miners, they are exposed to silica dust. The rock that you drill, it has a chemical silica in that dust. That dust goes into the lungs.
“Silicosis is only screened using an X-ray. Let us send our workers for screening. If there are free mobile screening trucks in your area, release your workers to go and get screened,” she said.
The event was organised by the Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small-Scale Women Miners Association (ZASWMA) and partners, providing an excellent platform for dialogue, networking and collaboration among women participating across Zimbabwe’s mining value chain.
