Automation and real-time monitoring have transformed modern mining, delivering significant gains in safety and operational efficiency. As the industry continues to evolve, so too do the health needs of the people who work within it. The question today is not simply how to keep miners safe, but how to support their total well-being.
Employee health and well-being are now understood in their fullest sense, encompassing physical safety, chronic disease management, mental health, and lifestyle. At Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore business, the commitment to whole-person wellbeing is already well underway.
“Physical safety remains a priority; it always will. We are equally focused on the lifestyle-related conditions that are increasingly prevalent among working-age men: hypertension, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol. These are manageable conditions, and early detection makes all the difference,” says the company’s Dr Bongani Nene, who serves as Principal Health and Occupational Hygiene.
Psychological well-being is a recognised consideration across the mining sector. The South African Journal of Psychiatry estimates that between 25% and 31% of male mine workers experience some level of psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. Kumba’s employee health programme, Careways, meets employees where they are, working with supervisors, health workers and family members to connect all employees with support, rather than relying solely on self-referral. About 45% of men who are employed by the company are currently consulting through this programme. That says as much about modern mining’s health challenge as any disease statistic might.
Open-cast mining has changed the nature of physical work on site. Where earlier roles were highly active, many positions today, such as truck operation, are largely sedentary, with employees seated for eight or more hours at a stretch. This evolution in job design has introduced a new set of health and wellness considerations, prompting greater focus on supporting employees in maintaining balance and wellbeing. Lifestyle-related risk factors, including weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, now feature prominently in Kumba’s health data which shows that 35% of employees now have a BMI of 30 or higher and about 8% are above 35.
When combined with a family history of heart disease or smoking, the 10-year risk of a cardiovascular event can climb from 45% to 60%, making early identification and intervention a clinical priority.
Prostate and colon cancers, the leading cancer killers of men, are frequently diagnosed only once symptoms are already advanced, because men avoid screening. HIV remains a factor too, not for lack of awareness, but because migrant labour patterns still separate many employees from their families for extended periods.
Mental health is perhaps the area where perceptions have been slowest to change. Many men still carry the belief that they must provide, not struggle, that asking for help, whether for stress, depression or financial pressure, signals weakness rather than strength. Dr Nene says Kumba has recognised this early and has worked deliberately to reframe what seeking support looks like.
Women also have an important role to play in changing this narrative. Whether as partners, mothers, sisters, daughters or colleagues, they can help create safe spaces for men to speak openly about their health and encourage them to seek support before a concern becomes a crisis. This is not about placing the responsibility for men’s health on women, but recognising that healthier families, workplaces and communities are built when people support one another and normalise conversations about wellbeing.
The company has made health screening a routine. Every employee receives an annual heart health check covering blood pressure, weight, cholesterol and smoking status, with prostate and colon screening introduced from age 45. Initially, uptake was driven by rewards, however the company has shifted to a more emotive approach as people are seeing the benefits of taking care of themselves wholistically.
For mental health, support is available around the clock through Careways, with on-site counsellors at Sishen and Kolomela mines and financial wellbeing support through Summit for employees facing debt or repossession pressure. Weekly training sessions, curated talk topics and the Engage app, which allows employees to complete a confidential mental health or TB screening from their phones, are all designed to make seeking help feel ordinary, not exceptional.
Healthier outcomes for men begin when they seek and ask for help and it’s no longer seen as weakness, but as a responsibility. Normalising those conversations in workplaces, homes and communities may be the most important health intervention of all.
