With the annual rainy season now underway, the Kwekwe District Civil Protection Unit (CPU) has launched a targeted awareness campaign urging artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) to immediately implement enhanced safety and water management systems to mitigate rain-induced disasters, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The campaign strikes a pragmatic tone, focusing on risk reduction measures that allow for continued operations while prioritising worker safety.
The onset of the rains increases the risk of mining-related disasters, particularly due to the heightened soil fragility that can lead to underground collapses. Rather than calling for a complete cessation of activities—a measure often ignored in practice—the authorities are advocating for a proactive and managed approach to safety.
The Civil Protection Unit is strongly urging miners to focus on four key operational areas to safeguard their sites and workers. A critical immediate step is the implementation of effective water management systems. This includes constructing trenches and ensuring proper drainage around mining sites to divert surface water, which can rapidly destabilise underground workings and waste dumps.
Furthermore, miners are being called upon to institutionalise regular risk assessments and safety audits. These proactive checks are essential for identifying potential hazards such as unstable ground, faulty support structures, or water ingress before they lead to accidents. The directive also emphasises the importance of administrative controls, insisting that all mining operations maintain updated registers of all workers on site. This simple measure is vital for emergency response teams to quickly account for all individuals in the event of a collapse or other incident.
Finally, the campaign highlights the need for reliable communication systems. Every mining site must devise and test a method to quickly alert underground workers of any emerging danger, such as a sudden downpour that could flood shafts or trigger a collapse.
While the current campaign focuses on preventative measures, the Kwekwe District CPU has a history of responding to tragic mining incidents in the region, underscoring the critical importance of their current advisory.
This advisory from the Civil Protection Unit reflects a growing recognition of the ASM sector’s economic importance and the practical need to work with miners to improve safety standards. By focusing on implementable systems such as drainage, audits, and communication, the campaign aims to reduce the annual spike in mining accidents during the wet season, protecting both lives and livelihoods in the Kwekwe District.
