INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY IN THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES IN NIGERIA 

BY ABUBAKAR UMAR MUNGADI

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES1.2 WORKING ENVIRONMENT1.3 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LINKAGE WITH

WORKING ENVIRONMENT2.0 IMPACTS OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES ON HEALTH

AND SAFETY3.0 BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY4.0 GOVERNMENT ROLE IN ENSURING HEALTH AND

SAFETY/NESREA MANDATE5.0 CONCLUSION

1.0 INTRODUCTION The health impact of extractive industries

activities, including mining and oil/gas drilling, has generated growing concern across the globe and raised important questions about the social and political forces and governance structures underpinning these activities. Although many would argue that mining and drilling are necessary to support the global economy, there are important counterarguments about how extractive industry activities could be better regulated, contained, or even eliminated in order to reduce the negative effects on human and environmental health.

1.1 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIESExtractive industry means any process that involves the extraction of raw materials from earth to be used by consumers. Extractive industry consists of any operations that remove metals, mineral and aggregates from earth. Examples of extractive process include oil and gas extraction, mining, dredging and quarrying.

1.2 WORKING ENVIRONMENTThis is a place where one works. It signifies all the external factors such as air, land and water that are influencing life and activities of people, plants and animals. Although working environment provides many economic and other benefits, a wide array of workplace hazards also present risks to the health and safety of people at work. These include but are not limited to, "chemicals, biological agents, physical factors, adverse ergonomic conditions, allergens, a complex network of safety risks," and a broad range of psychosocial risk factors.

POLLUTED AIR AND DEGERADED LANDS AS ARESULT OF UNSUSTANABLE PRACTICES OF MINING

DEGERADED LAND AS ARESULT OF UNSUSTANABLE PRACTICES BY ASM

1.3 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LINKAGE WITH WORKING ENVIRONMENT

According to World Health Organization (WHO) Occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards. Health has been defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Occupational health is a multidisciplinary field of healthcare concerned with enabling an individual to undertake their occupation, in the way that causes least harm to their health. Health has been defined as it contrasts, for example, with the promotion of health and safety at work, which is concerned with preventing harm from any incidental hazard, arising in the workplace.

Under Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplace. Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a common definition of occupational health. It was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its first session in 1950 and revised at its twelfth session in 1995. The definition reads‘’The main focus in occupational health is on three different objectives:

the maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and working capacity;

the improvement of working environment and work to become conducive to safety and health and

development of work organizations and working cultures in a direction which supports health and safety at work and in doing so also promotes a positive social climate and smooth operation and may enhance productivity of the undertakings’’

2.0 IMPACTS OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES ON HEALTH AND SAFETY

Many studies on the health effects of extractive activities are focused on a specific site, making it difficult to provide evidence from the literature about generalized health impacts. While some national databases exist to report injuries and deaths as well as compliance with occupational health laws, they are often too unreliable to meaningfully cite, especially in the lowest income countries, where extractive industry activity is most dangerous.Healthcare workers are exposed to many hazards that can adversely affect their health and well-being. Long hours, changing shifts, physically demanding tasks, violence, and exposures to infectious diseases and harmful chemicals are examples of hazards that put these workers at risk for illness and injury.

Occupational health injuries and illnesses impose significant health and social costs to workers and their families. Historically mining was among the deadliest of occupations due to brown lung disease, fatal explosions and mine collapses. Mining, especially coal mining, causes extremely high occupational mortality. Due to poor ventilation in underground shafts, miners are exposed to harmful gases, dust, toxins, and heat, leading to silicosis and other lung diseases, heat stroke, and cancer.The problems that are commonly associated with most Extractive Industries in Nigeria are lack of information about the ore (exploration), Use of labour intensive technology, unskilled labour force, lack of written contracts, bad social image of mining, subsistence economy, access to the market only via intermediaries, market barriers, illegality of Extractive Industries, lack of umbrella organisations, lack of capital.

CHILD LABOUR

ASM WORKING WITHOUT (PPE)

3.0 BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY IN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIESConducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before

commencement of any major extractive industry project.Conducting Environmental Audit (EA) for existing extractive

industries after every three years.The use of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) must be

encouraged for health purposes.The use of hazardous chemicals must be discouraged to

avoid contamination.Mineral ore should be properly transported in covered

vehicles to avoid contamination.Extracted minerals should not be stored or processed in

residential homes.The use of underage and children should be discouraged.Mine out pits should be covered up, reclaimed with

overburden for the restoration of the ecosystem of the area.

4.0 GOVERNMENT ROLE IN IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY IN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES/NESREA MANDATE

While National Governments ultimately bear responsibility for preserving the public interest and public health over extractive industries interests, a variety of political and economic forces, often with complicated historical roots, impede this protecting role.The Government of Nigeria functions through various MDAs. In the mining sector, there is the Ministry of Solid Minerals, Federal Ministry of Environment, the Regulatory Agency NESREA and other State Government organs. Role of the government as a stakeholder in the Extractive Industries include:

Development of appropriate, consistent, and transparent policy and regulatory framework that focuses on both the facilitation and management of extractive industries;

Ensure environmental quality and integrity by evolving environmental laws and standards that are enforceable;

Enforce compliance with the laws and standards; Involve the stakeholders in the evolution of these regulations,

laws and standards and popularize them at the end; andSensitisation and public enlightenment among Artisanal

miners with the aim of formalising the sub sector for effective compliance monitoring.The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) a Parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment is charged with the responsibility of enforcing environmental laws, regulations and standards and deterring people, industries and organization from polluting and degrading the environment. The vision of the Agency is to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment for all Nigerians while her mission is to inspire personal and collective responsibility towards building an environmentally conscious society for the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria.

In the performance of her function NESREA had developed 33 National Environmental Regulations cutting across different sectors of the environment. To minimize pollution and environmental degradation from mining and processing of coal ores and industrial minerals using efficient cleaner technologies that are environmentally friendly and compatible with public health, NESREA evolved national regulations on mining and quarrying operations as follows;

National Environmental (Mining and processing of coal, ores and Industrial Minerals) Regulations. 2009, and

National Environmental (Quarrying and Blasting Operation) Regulations. 2013.The Agency in collaboration with relevant Ministerial Departments and Agencies State and Local Governments Areas is compiling an inventory of all quarries for the purpose of environmental compliance monitoring. Along that line, the Agency has conducted series of education awareness programmes to artisanal miners associations in Nassarawa, Ekiti, and Zamfara States. Personal Protective Equipments were freely distributed to the organizations during the exercise.

RECIPIENT OF PPEs WITH SOME DIGNITORIES

5.0 CONCLUTIONThe health impact of extractive industries activities are better prevented than cured. Ways and means of reducing occupational hazards to the lowest possible level must be sought and where circumstances and nature of the hazard permits, they should be eliminated altogether. Today many countries including Nigeria have laws and regulations which govern the working conditions in the industrial sector. These laws and regulations are based on the idea that the improvement of workplace conditions is to be organized and performed by the three partners in labour relations i.e. Government, Employers and Workers.Regulations and best practices are effective only to the extent they are enforced.

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