Exploring the Experiences of the Employees of Golgohar Industrial Mining Company During the COVID-19 Epidemic

The COVID-19 pandemic created a sense of unsafety and uncertainty in various industries and occupations. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of the employees of Golgohar Mining and Industrial Co. during the COVID-19 epidemic. 

This qualitative content analysis study was conducted on 20 employees of the Golgohar Mining & Industrial Co. in Sirjan, Iran, recruited through purposeful sampling from March 2021 to January 2022. After gaining informed consent, semi-structured interviews were conducted and continued until data saturation was achieved. The interviews lasted for 35-50 minutes and were recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed by MAXQDA software, version 2020. 

Three categories emerged from the qualitative data analysis: “Challenging work environment,” “unsafe workplace,” and “crisis management.” These categories formed the main theme, “encountering a crisis,” which refers to the very difficult situation that the workers experienced with the emergence of COVID-19. 

The workers did not fully comprehend the seriousness of the pandemic and lacked sufficient information about the disease, which contributed to the spread of infection. Teaching problem-solving strategies and behavior control, combined with training on disease prevention, can be effective in crisis management.