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By Jerry C. Tien

Mining in China dates back at least 4,000 years. Today, with no less than 103,000 metal/nonmetal mines and between 40,000 to 80,000 coal mines, China’s mining industry is undoubtedly the largest in the world. Despite improvements in recent decades, seemingly endless mining accidents continue to make the news. Official coal mining deaths were 6,702 in 2003, and 6,027 miners died in 2004; actual figures may be much higher. Added to these were the 2,699 deaths in the metal and nonmetal industries. Most of these accidents were due to CH4 (methane gas) explosions and fires as a result of inadequate mine ventilation de-sign or practices. A good portion of these accidents occur in small, privately run and often technically illegal mines. During the past 10 years, the Chinese government has attempted to crack down on small and often technically illegal mines without much success. The number of accidents and associated fatalities has not significantly reduced. However, there appears to be a new urgency in China’s efforts to step up mine safety in the country. After its worst reported mine disaster in more than a half century, the government quickly paid reparations to families, suspended high-level officials in charge and announced additonal reforms. One of those was the elevation of the central government’s work safety office to cabinet-level status. There has been increased transparency in reporting and investigation of mine accidents and disasters in recent years. There has also been an increase in public criticism by labor leaders concerning the neglect of mine workersafety.1 This article examines the causes of China’s many mining accidents, current legal and enforcement structures, respective mining health and safety related laws and regulations, recent mining industry developments and the latest effort to curtail small mining operations.

Jan 1, 2005

By Mark A. Anderson

INTRODUCTION The accomplishment of a well engineered design, and the realization of efficient plant operation cannot be achieved without weaving a web of safety consciousness from the beginning of the project. When the plant becomes operational, and throughout its life, responsibility safety will rest with the client or operator. Recognition of this understanding does not reduce the importance of the engineering and construction contractor's role, but merely puts the responsibility where it belongs. A project which has had little or no operator input during the early stages of design is almost certain to have serious work place safety, health, and environmental problems in spite of the fact that all MSHA and OSHA design requirements were met and the engineering was performed using accepted practices. DEFINITIONS The author has a personal preference in safety definitions that begins and ends with simplicity. If the safety criteria, program, and rules are confusing or complex, the results will soon become obvious. Confusing and complex are the key elements in the avoidance of responsibility and if punitive is added to the list, a brew exists which breeds accidents, illness, and poor performance. A safely designed and operated plant is one that a worker can journey to each day; leaving that person and his or her family with the above average expectation that the person will return healthy, emotionally intact, and hopefully a little wealthier. If the objective or results of a planned or existing safety program don't fit the definition. then the reader is probably contemplating a very sophisticated

Jan 1, 1986

By J. A. Organiscak

Longwall mining technological improvements have provided significant increases in productivity over the last 15 years. Longwall productivity is anticipated to continue to escalate with expanded application of automated equipment. Automation technology that will likely be adopted over the next 5 years is memory cut with shearer initiation of shield movement supervised by a couple of face workers. Operations using this technology will most likely relocate many production workers from the face to the outby gate entries and position several face workers outby the shearer, exposing workers to different health and safety risks. These changing risks are primarily related to worker relocation and expected increased production levels. Workers outby the face will most likely have less dust and noise exposure, but will be exposed to other safety hazards associated with outby equipment movement, materials handling, and gate entry ground movements. The face workers will most likely be exposed to higher respirable dust and noise levels generated by the equipment at elevated production rates. Methane gas emission is also expected to increase with faster mining rates. These operational changes and the control technologies needed to reduce redefined longwall worker hazards at semiautonomous longwall operations require examination to maintain the health and safety of mine workers.

Jan 1, 1996

By Bill Mercer

The Triggers for PDAC Involvement in H&S ??Increase in serious accidents in mineral exploration in past few years ??Increasing junior role in exploration ?? Impression that there were few H&S protocols in place in smaller companies ??Lack of national benchmarking ?? The attitude that H&S is a provincial responsibility ??Corporate Social Responsibility initiative What is the issue in exploration? ??Mining?s reputation as ?dirty and dangerous? ??In public?s and media?s minds exploration employees are ?miners? ??In Canada, regulators often do not distinguish between ?exploration? and ?mining?. ??How does exploration compare to mining from a H&S point of view?

May 1, 2008

By S. H. Ash

Mass production methods, although increasingly important for economic reasons, create new hazards, remove many hazards, and improve health and safety by reducing exposure and obtaining better supervision. Such methods must be efficient or be discarded. Skilled workmen are required who must be trained to utilize equipment that replaces picks, shovels, and explosives. The effects of working conditions on the health of workmen have long been evaluated in noncoal mines. Studies and action programs relating to environmental health hazards in the mineral industry have placed particular emphasis on dusts. The anthracite industry is conducting an action program on the problem of dust. Segments of the bituminous industry are now conducting similar investigations. An industrial hygiene survey of coal mining in the State of Washington has been conducted and the results published in 1949. (State of Washington, Department of Health, I. H. Bul letin 4.) Chest X rays were obtained from miners in the six major coal-producing counties. State Health Department mobile X-ray equipment was set up at most large mines. Participation was on a voluntary basis, and response was obtained from 70 percent. Important in successful mining safety programs are training programs for supervisors and workmen alike. These programs recognize that the employe is the focal point in injury prevention and are planned and function around him. During the war, industries had to compete with each other for workers and to obtain and hold good workers, working conditions had to be made attractive. The average age of the mine worker increased, and, contrary to what many expected, mining injury rates decreased rather than increased. To attract competent workers, risks to life and limb, as well as laborious tasks, have to be reduced, and an experienced worker is indispensable for safety. Young men are returning to modernized mines. Mass production methods and equipment are more to their liking; jobs are more remunerative, demand action, and require special training and skill that give them the mark of a craftsman. Such workmen can be taught safe methods.

Jan 1, 1950

By O. M. Schaus

GRATIFYING progress continues towards the elimination of the hazards confronting health and safety in and about mines. Employers and employees are diligently co-operating. One of the outstanding movements towards this end is the National Safety Competition conducted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines. William W. Adams, of the Bureau, has stated that "Through 1936 there has passed by a dozen years of this National Safety Competition, as it started in 1925 with an enrollment of 210 mines and quarries in 28 states and 68 million man-hours of employment. For 1936 it covered 328 mines and quar-

Jan 1, 1938

By A. S. Richardson

PROGRESS in health and safety in the mining field has been greatly affected by war conditions. Some of the instruments commonly used in ventilation and dust prevention work have been practically unobtainable. Much equipment, such as fans, has been purchasable only when it was possible to make positive statements to the effect that it was absolutely necessary for the production of definite quantities of materials essential to the war. Even then, long delays were usually experienced in obtaining such equipment from the manufacturers. These circumstances have, of course, not been conducive to the development of new and better methods, though attention has been directed by governmental agencies towards the recognition of existing hazards to which little attention had previously been paid.

Jan 1, 1945

By O. M. Schaus

REDUCED activity of mining, because of the business recession, had the effect of lowering working time, hence of reducing exposure to accidents, so it is probable that 1938 will be found to have had a lesser number (both fatal and nonfatal) though the accident rate may remain about the same as in 1936 and 1937. During periods of re-employment, such as occurred during 1936, 1937, and 1938, the new men entering the industry are less experienced and not as well trained in accident prevention as are the older, more experienced men and are frequently subject to more accidents. This situation should tend to correct itself as the new employees be- come better trained.

Jan 1, 1939

By D. Hawington

HEALTH and safety in the mining and allied industries of the United States have unquestionably been progressing, particularly during the past three or four years, even though the progress has been anything but great in some branches of these industries. Statistical data to support this statement are readily available as to safety, but similar health data are unfortunately not available. In coal mining the rate of occurrence of fatal accidents per million tons of coal produced for the ten-year period 1911.20 inclusive was 4.27; this rate was 3.84 in 1930, .3.31 in 1931, 3.36 in 1932, and 2.69 (tentative) in 1933. In metal mining, the-rate of occurrence of fatal and- non-fatal injuries per .thousand 300-day workers (calculated) was 224.36 for- the same ten-year period. This fell slowly until after 1929 when it was 203.14, dropping to 170.78 in 1930, to 142.09 in 1931, to 138.46 in 1932, and to 155.13 in 1933. Here, again,-the real progress began in 1931 though the rate in 1930 was not particularly bad. For the same ten-year period, the rate of those killed and injured: in: quarrying per thousand 300-day workers (calculated)

Jan 1, 1935

By Carl M. Fellman

LABOR disputes caused considerable turbulence in the coal mining industry during 1946. As an outcome of these disputes, a definitely fundamental change in safety procedure was instituted: establishment of safety regultions for coal mines through the agency of agreements between the miners' union and the agency or agencies operating the coal mines. Although a temporary plan at present, the future will determine the. extent to which it may become permanent. Notwithstanding the turmoil in the industry extending through much of the year, the safety record for the first eleven months of 1946 was the best in the history of the industry for that period. The fatality rate for 1946 is lower than in any other year in the history of coal mining in the United States. This follows a pattern inasmuch as new low coal-mine fatality records were also made in 1945, 1944, and 1943. The five-year period 1942 to 1946 inclusive has a coal-mining fatality rate far lower than any other five-year period in the history of the industry. It is significant that this period exactly coincides with the operation of Federal coal mine inspection which got under way early in 1942.

Jan 1, 1947

By C. M. Fellman

THE over-all picture of safety in mining has been encouraging during the past few years, and in mining activities as a whole the trend in accident occurrence is downward. This is the more noteworthy when the type of labor used in mines during the war period is taken into consideration. The drafting of young mining employees into the armed services and the departure of others for work in other war industries took a heavy toll of young, husky, active men. Their places were taken in large part by older men who returned to the mines, or by inexperienced men with little if any knowledge of mining. Despite the lack of labor and especially of skilled labor, and the difficulty of obtaining new equipment as well as maintaining and replacing worn or broken equipment, and numerous other difficulties the mining industry not only reached and maintained maximum production but made the increase with little if any sacrifice of safety. In fact, in many instances better safety records were. established than in normal

Jan 1, 1946

By E. B. Olds, Burt. B. P.

THE mines of the Consolidated Coppermines Corporation are at Kimberly, in the Robinson mining district, White Pine County, Nevada. [ ] The blanket-like ore body is a disseminated copper deposit occurring in monzonite porphyry and, in general, is thoroughly fractured, altered, and soft. Contained in the porphyry ores of the extreme westerly end of the ore body are pendants of hard garnetized limestone. A younger monzonite porphyry underlies the ore-bearing porphyry, which in turn rests on limestone and shale. Block caving is the standard method of mining. Because of the undulating top and bottom contours of the ore body, the main haulage level was selected and driven at an elevation calculated to be the most economic depth below the major tonnage sections of ore. Fig. I shows a general section of the Emma Nevada ore body taken through its long axis, which lies roughly in an east-west direction. Mine openings in either type of porphyry require heavy timbering and constant maintenance and repair, particularly in horizons at or near the ore body contact. Where the ore lies close to the haulage level, slusher hoists and scrapers are used to transport horizontally the ore to the main haulage drift (Fig. 2). For the extraction of high-lying ores, a system of branch raises is used; and the ore is mined by gravity. Slushing methods are used also on the high-lying ore-body fringes. Slusher drifts are often driven from the fringe branch raises that have already served their purpose, in order to minimize the cost of the preparatory work in mining the thinner portions of the ore body (Figs. 3 and 4). When a block of ore is developed and undercut, it is economical to mine it as rapidly as the ore will cave efficiently; and this procedure often presents safety problems because of men with equipment working in a relatively congested area. The single-track main haulage drift is about 1 ½ miles long, and lateral haulage drifts are driven under the ore body at intervals determined by the height of the ore body above the haulage level. In order to minimize repair and maintenance, the

Jan 1, 1946

By S. H. Ash

Foreman remains key man in any safety program, as men attracted to the industry must be trained in safety thinking. Diesel engines underground aid safety and widespread use of roof bolting is reflected in reduction of roof-fall fatalities.

Jan 2, 1953

The patterns of occupational health pro- grammes in mining and metallurgy are discussed in relation to the impact of chemical and phy- sical hazards on the health of workers in these fields. Mining and metallurgy are quite unique in that their history and practice embrace virtually the total spectrum of occupational health problems and hazards as understood today. A panoramic concept of the possibilities would comprise the following fields: 1. The Pneumoconioses or Dust Diseases. 2. Physical stress due to exertion, and exposure to heat and humidity in deep mines. 3. The toxic effects of various metals in the mining of ore. The most obvious are lead, mercury, arsenic and manganese. 4. Diseases associated with mining. These include leptospirosis, ankylostomiasis and mycotic infections of the skin. 5. The Beat Diseases of coal miners working in narrow seams. 6. Illumination problems and miners nystagmus. 7. Geographical and climatic problems

Jan 1, 1975

By D. Duvris

Health and safety issues are a very important aspect of mining activities. Although the application of scientific research and current technology shields workers from many dangerous aspects of mining, accidents do happen. Many companies and institutions worldwide have committed to a continuous effort to minimize such occurrences. In this study, the health and safety data pertaining to the Greek mining and quarrying industry for the last 3 decades are presented and critically evaluated with respect to number of workers, annual production, etc. Appropriate indices are also calculated regarding the incidence and frequency of accidents. Health and safety issues specific to mining in Greek are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2000

By J. J. Webb

At Kerr-McGee's Galatia Mine in southern Illinois, the need for safe and efficient longwall moves prompted a detailed planning effort. Galatia Mine operates two longwalls on separate coal seams with different geologic conditions. An overview of the longwall move planning as related to manpower training, roof control, ventilation, transportation, equipment recovery and setup will be discussed. The impressive safety record achieved during each of the longwall moves at Galatia Mine verifies that health and safety planning does play a major role.

Jan 1, 1994

By S. S. Arentz

An organized safety program has reduced accidents at Pioche because effort is first devoted to arousing and maintaining interest in safety, followed by training in accident prevention, assigning responsibility for the detection and removal of safety hazards, and finally, by keeping score through an adequate system of records. A health program is intergrated with the safety program.

Jan 2, 1950

By T. T. Read

TWO papers on health and safety were given Thursday afternoon when a joint session of the Health and Safety Committee and the Mining Methods Committee was held. T. T. Read presided and the first paper, on ventilation at Climax, was presented by the author, L. H. Glanville. In the subsequent discussion by Cloyd M. Smith, P. B. Bucky, B. F. Tillson, D. F. Haley, J. L. G. Weysser, and others a number of interesting points not covered by the paper, which appears in full in the January Mining Technology, were brought out. Ventilation troubles in mines so often hinge on the air being too hot and damp that it was interesting to hear of one where it is frequently too cold and too dry.

Jan 1, 1943

By David B. Gladwin

Regional characteristics in the coal resource base have resulted in application of different mining methods across Canada. Longwall methods predominate in eastern Canada, whereas open pit, hydraulic and room-and-pillar methods are utilized in the west. Both provincial and federal agencies have regulatory responsibilities and both also share in the development of R&D programs. This paper outlines the scale and scope of the various agencies involved with health and safety R&D in our expanding coal mining industry. Specific R&D activities in ventilation, dust control, explosion hazards, tunnel boring, strata control and truck braking, which form part of the national program, are outlined.

Jan 1, 1982

Health and safety issues are very important to the mining industry. Although the application of scientific research and current technology shields workers from many dangerous aspects of mining, accidents do happen. Many companies and institutions worldwide have committed to a continuous effort to minimize such occurrences. In this study, the health and safety data pertaining to the Greek mining and quarrying industry for the last three decades are presented and critically evaluated with respect to factors such as the number of workers and annual production. Appropriate indices are also calculated regarding the incidence and frequency of accidents. Health and safety issues specific to mining in Greece are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2002