Insight
Closing the
gender gap
An area that has lagged in the facilitation of women’s entry into mining has been
the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), designed specifically for
women miners, writes Vanessa Ronald.
T
he number of women working in
the mining sector has increased
significantly over the past 17 years,
with the numbers growing from
11 400 in 2002 to more than 53 100 today.
This represents about 12% of the entire
mining workforce of 464 667, according to a
recent report by the Minerals Council South
Africa. Yet many companies still procure male
and/or unisex safety-wear due to a lack of
understanding that the anatomy of a women
differs greatly to that of a man.
Comfort can have a profound effect on
productivity, which means that ill-fitting PPE
could seriously impact a wearer’s quality of
work. A critical consideration is thus that
ill-fitting safety footwear and workwear leads
to several issues, which include discomfort
and pain, lowered productivity, absenteeism
due to health-related problems such as urinary
infections and even a psychological barrier to
the work environment.
Industrial psychologist Uma Naidoo says if
workers are not comfortable in their attire, in
which they spend about eight hours of the day,
it could lead to frustration, poor concentration,
increased breaks and many other debilitating
effects on productivity. She says workers who
are uncomfortable in their clothing are not
functioning at their best.
One of the major challenges for women in
an underground environment is the removal
of the boilersuit when reaching a toilet, which
is normally far to walk. They have to unzip the
boiler-suit and remove it in its entirety (from
top to bottom). To do this, women further
need to remove other parts of their mandatory
kit, such as their hard hat, safety pack and
torch battery.
Another factor that affects a women’s
dignity is that the colour of their underground
mining boiler suit is unbleached. When
women have menstruation-related accidents
[40] MINING MIRROR JUNE 2019
If workers are not comfortable in their attire,
in which they spend about eight hours of the day,
it could lead to frustration, poor concentration,
increased breaks and many other debilitating
effects on productivity.
underground, it shows up on this colour and
exposes the accident to all.
Thus, the issue of discomfort due to design
is a critical point that needs to be explored
when considering the health and well being
of female workers on the mines, as well as
increased productivity.
To address this, a range of safety wear that
challenges the status quo that one size fits all
has been designed through extensive research
and consultation with women in the industry.
This includes a boiler suit for women miners,
which includes features such as the V-flap
at the back of the boiler suit to improve the
ease with which women use ablution facilities,
and the inclusion of navy fabric between
the hip and thigh area to save women the
embarrassment of a menstruation-related
accident.
Now, when going to the toilet, the top
part of the boiler suit does not need to be
undone or removed, due to the V-flap design
in the back. This makes it easier for women to
relieve themselves more regularly rather than
holding it in for the greater part of the shift,
compromising on their comfort and increasing
the chances of a urinary infection.
The design of the boiler suit is cut according
to a women’s anatomy with a narrower back
area, wider front area, and shorter crotch to
waist ratio than a man’s. Also, women naturally
have wider hips and a more pronounced
posterior, which is accommodated in the
design, allowing for the elasticated waist band
to rest where a woman’s waist line typically is
and not where a man’s waist line would be.
When employing women in mining,
it is critical that factors like the above are
considered, as it will improve productivity
and the general health and safety in an
underground mine.
Vanessa Ronald is the senior brand manager at
Sisi, BBF Safety Group
www.miningmirror.co.za