Extending health and safety protection to informal workers: an analysis of small scale mining in KwaZulu-Natal

This research report was originally a dissertation written for the Masters in Development Studies course at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study explores the potential extension of occupational health and safety to informal small scale miners in South Africa. It is motivated by an understanding of the integral relationship between the quality of work and the goals of poverty reduction and economic development.

The authors argue that poor working conditions can reduce productivity and that work-related injury or illness is an unaffordable risk for those working without access to adequate social protection. Further, the protection of labour standards, including work health and safety, is an established basic right in those countries where relevant International Labour Organisation Conventions have been ratified. Regulation operates through formal employment structures and therefore offers limited or no protection to informal workers. The analysis here has identified that while the Department of Health may have an important role to play, it is unrealistic to expect any one stakeholder to take over full responsibility for the labour protection of informal workers.

Key conclusions and recommendations include:

• work-related injuries and illnesses are a largely under explored source of informal worker vulnerability - if unprotected in terms of insurance or compensation, the common consequences of injury and illness in the form of lost work time and rising health care costs may reduce the economic security of workers and increase their risk of poverty
  
• local government is an important player in the support of small scale mining for a number of reasons - amongst these, local governments can often offer more appropriate and effective support to survivalist enterprises and informal workers
  
• in resource constrained contexts a more grounded and effective response would likely involve breaking down the problem to find where different stakeholders could most appropriately get involved - this approach is not straightforward however, progress will never be made as long as stakeholders, and particularly government institutions, remain within the confines of their own vertically driven mandates.