Mining environments are difficult settings to work in, mainly because mines can degenerate very quickly and change as the mining industry evolves. Ever since mining began on the industrial scale in the late 19th century, health and safety have been a major concern to miners. These miners can face a number of risks to their well-being, including physical, ergonomic, and psychological problems. Traumas and injuries remain a significant problem to this day, and can range from a broken bone to asphyxiation. The most common causes of fatal injuries in the mining industry include falls from height, entrapment, and mobile equipment accidents.
Here are some facts…
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research recently conducted a survey of the United States mining population. It was estimated that there were 231,549 employees in the mining industry, and that fatality rates averaged 18.1 per 100,000 full-time workers.
In 2010, an Alabama man became the 37th coal miner to die on the job that year. Phillip W. Gustafson died in an explosion at Taft Coal Sales & Associates Inc.’s Choctaw Mine. Gustafson was killed while he was fueling a blast hole drill rig. According to the report, the operator was in the process of fueling the drill rig when an ignition/explosion erupted into a fire, engulfing him in flames.
In another accident, Charles McIntire, a 62-year-old employee of CONSOL Energy’s Shoemaker Mine, died in 2011, following an accident at the Ohio River portal of the underground mine. Reports indicated that McIntire was injured when he dismounted the piece of equipment he was operating as a trench digger and connected it to a power source. It seems the machine ran over him when it re-energized and amputated his leg.
And in 2012, a coal miner died when he fell three stories at an Alpha Natural Resources preparation plant in West Virginia. Clyde W. Dolin was killed when he fell near an elevator. The incident was the eighth coal-mining death in the United States in 2012 and the second in West Virginia.
Similar tragedies have occurred across borders in the United Kingdom; however, they have not been as frequent as mining fatalities in the United States. This may be attributed to the fact that the mining industry, which was once a major industry for the United Kingdom with over one million workers, has now dwindled to a mere fraction of its historical heyday with regards to the number of workers employed in the coal mining industry.
The last reported coal-mining related fatality in the United Kingdom occurred in 2011, when four men trapped deep underground in the Gleision colliery high in the Swansea Valley of Wales were found dead. The four—Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, Phillip Hill, 45, and Garry Jenkins, 39—were trapped after water poured into the shaft they were working in.
In fact, all these tragedies could have been prevented. There are two important measures to consider…
1. Risk Assessment
Mine owners as employers must have procedures in place to ensure that risks such as fire and explosion, mobile equipment accidents, falling from heights, entrapment due to in-rushes, etc., are assessed at each of their mines. This involves undertaking risk assessments for the purpose of identifying the measures needed to not only ensure the health of safety of workers but also to comply with health and safety requirements and legislation. Assessing risks is important in order to identify their relative importance, as well as to obtain information on their nature and extent. This will help both prioritize risks and determine where to put the most effort in terms of prevention and control and to make decisions on the adequacy of existing control measures.
The main stages of fire and explosion, mobile equipment accident, falling from heights, and/or entrapment due to inrushes risk assessments processes are:
● Identify the hazards
● Consider the precautions already in place for the prevention and mitigation of hazards
● Evaluate the likelihood of a risk occurring due to a particular hazard
● Consider the consequences of the risk and decide who might be harmed and how
● Determine what further measures are necessary to prevent, control or mitigate the risk
● Record significant findings
● Review the risk assessment periodically, or when you think that a change in circumstances will significantly affect the risks to which people are exposed
2. Health and Safety Orientation and Training
Safety orientation and training can also play a key role in the prevention of such coal-mining fatalities since health and safety orientation training is a fundamental component of any organization’s health and safety management system. Health and safety orientation and training raise miners’ awareness of the health and safety hazards on the job, as well as the controls for these hazards and how they can affect their safety and the safety of their co-workers. Thus, safety orientation and training can significantly reduce the risk of potential injuries and accidents by positively impacting on employee competence.
Final thoughts…
Safety orientation and training can help mine owners meet regulatory compliance as employers, which demonstrates due diligence. It contributes to building a culture of safety within the working environment, which not only reduces miner’s risk of being exposed to potential workplace hazards but also has an impact on their attitudes and perceptions towards workplace safety.
While the safety performance of mines has improved over the years and significant reductions in fatality rates have been accomplished, mining still ranks second amongst industry sectors for leading fatality rates. As such, it is essential that employers in the mining industry equip their workers with the best health and safety training.
Want to know more about effective safety orientations and risk management in the mining industry? Get in touch!
