Rank: Forum user 
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Hello
Waiting to be deployed to West Africa for a Mining company (Visa Pending) in a H&S role. Would be grateful if anybody has African, Mining experience in a Safety capacity. Thank You.
Regards
Allan
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Allan, this is only secondhand knowledge but be prepared to be held personally responsible for accidents. May also be useful to read Papillon and view Midnight Express to prepare you for the period after the accident.
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Rank: Forum user
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AllanFS wrote:Hello
Waiting to be deployed to West Africa for a Mining company (Visa Pending) in a H&S role. Would be grateful if anybody has African, Mining experience in a Safety capacity. Thank You.
Regards
Allan Hi Allan, Most of the west Africa countries do not have any legislations relating to mining. I worked in most of the west Africa mines as geologist before joing the safety trade. PM me for specific informations. Best regards
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Rank: Forum user
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David Bannister wrote:Allan, this is only secondhand knowledge but be prepared to be held personally responsible for accidents. May also be useful to read Papillon and view Midnight Express to prepare you for the period after the accident. Sounds grim David, Looking forward to it. Thanks Allan.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I did some work in Nigeria, Congo, Angola and a few other areas, not directly in mining but in a safety role.
Depending on your location I would seriously advise (if you havnt already) some private healthcare with a registered multinational / cross regional African expat provider and security update service (if not provided by your employer).
It can be risky but also rewarding, the people I found we very friendly and very willing to learn and change.
Good luck!
Des
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Rank: Forum user
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Allan
prepare to be BORED ! I thoroughly enjoyed my times in the Niger uranium mines, the people at all levels are very friendly but, come the evenings and weekends there ain't a lot to do. There probably (certainly) will be bars, different staff social clubs (never segregated but often strictly stratified) a swimming pool, maybe a library but you can get reallyreally fed up with sunbathing by the pool all day long and drinking in the bars all night long.. Especially if it hits 50+°C during the day. (under 40 and the locals will wear woolly jumpers and bobble hats) Because of the revolt we couldn't go for a drive in the country without an armed escort so we were stuck in the camp.
As for safety, even with European/American type ownership, it's very much a local affair. French ex-colonies will have something based on the code minière, British ones will have pre-HASAWA legislation but, on, or under the ground, it's very much local habits and customs.
They don't always have an accurate count of who is down the mine. They will quite happily swap a dud battery for one of the shiney ones reserved for visitors. Pity the poor visitor (me) sloshing about 250 metres down not being able to see where he is going.
As for the food ? OK, all trucked in and plenty of it, but it's a bit hit or miss. One French guy I used to have dinner with had a fondness for Salade Niçoise, which features slices of hard boiled egg. One evening, there was no egg. On enquiring he was told "monsieur, I'm sorry, but at lunchtime someone ordered the chicken"
Something I really, perhaps sinfully, enjoyed was having a Boy to do my room and the laundry. Everyday my shirts and shorts came back freshly starched with ironed-in creases. So did my Y-fronts.
On the safety side, be prepared for a really tough job. On the people side, enjoy.
Merv
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Merv,
not sure if the egg and chicken was true but very funny.
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