Attracting and retaining women in the Australian minerals industry

Along our journey to help companies with the safety of their operators and their valves, we have crossed the way of the women working in mines. They represent in Australia only 18% of the minerals industry workforce, where the rate is usually 45%. 

Women working in mines in Australia: the facts 

Most of the women included in the 18% are working in the corporate side of mines and only 3% work in the mine sites and minerals processing operations. This alarming number can be explained by several issues such as:

• Until 1986, West Australian mine owners faced fines of up to $500 if women were caught working underground.
• The lack of possibility for a part time job in mining activities that represents 40% of female employment in Australia due to their additional caring responsibilities. 
• The prejudice of the sector that implies hard labour conditions and long working hours in unstable environments. 
• The fact that mines are usually far away from towns which implies special working hours. For example, working 12 hours a day for 7 days and going back home for 7 days.
• Ergonomic problems and working conditions that involve more musculoskeletal risks due to their interaction with the machinery, tools, valves as well as the work duration and the environment of work. All the equipment used to be designed for the physical attributes of men. If women work under the same conditions and with the same tools, the effects can be greater for them than for men workers due to their difference of muscular power. 

The Women and Gender Equity Ministry of Antofagasta in Chile trying our portable valve actuator for mines 

How to improve safety of female miners in Australia? 

When contacted by mining companies, they explained us that there were two big categories of valves in the mines: 

• Valves that were operated everyday and therefore equipped with fix actuators
• Valves that were operated once every while manually 

For this last category it was a great waste of money to instal fix actuators on each and every valves. So they were looking for a way to operate those valves safely and efficiently by any worker, men or women. 

There was a clear desire from the companies we have worked with to open the operational side of mines to women, some of them even have the goal to achieve a 50/50 gender rate by 2020. 

In order to achieve this equality, studies have been carried out to analyse the impact of the culture, structures, processes and tools already in place in order to provide a more gender inclusive work environment. 

We can observe some results of that change for a better gender equality such as the increase in dedicated programs for women to get operational roles, a gender awareness for male employees and also adapted gender tools. Indeed even if theoretically men and women can have the same roles, in practical they can’t hold the same strength for as much time and it can be incapacitating. 

Modec modestly contributed in this great project thanks to its portable valve actuator that enables women to operate all the valves present in the mines that transport water, copper concentrate, wastes … 

Woman in mine in Chile operating a valve with Modec's electric portable valve actuator

The portable valve actuators also responded to two other problematics:

• The extended repetition of some movements such as opening wheels (sometimes thousands of turns) that are prohibited for the health of mine workers 
• Operating time can’t last more than an hour in order to keep a certain level of productivity

Alternative growth strategies such as the gender equality in mining proved to be the path for a gender parity inside mines and the result being the achievement of better safety, better production, as well as doing the right thing.  Find out more about the portable valve operators downloading the case studies: