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in underground mines
Background bolts are in use” or as “an unplanned
A realistic goal for underground
A. IANNACCHIONE, L. PROSSER, roof or rib fall in inactive workings
mines trying to reduce the incidence G. ESTERHUIZEN AND T. BAJPAYEE that impairs ventilation or impedes
of miner injuries associated with passage” (Anon, 2005). In general,
A. Iannacchione, member SME, L. Prosser, G. Esterhuizen,
roof falls is to assess the conditions roof fall reporting requirements
member SME, and T. Bajpayee, member SME, are principal
that pose a roof fall risk. If mine consist of time and date, location in-
research engineer, research scientist, senior research fellow and
operators properly assess roof fall formation, mining method involved,
lead reasearch engineer, respectively, with the National Institute for
hazards, they can better reduce roof equipment involved and a narrative
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Pittsburgh Research Labo-
fall risks with appropriate engineer- that fully describes the conditions
ratory, Pittsburgh, PA. Paper number TP-06-047. Original manuscript
ing and administrative controls. Any contributing to the roof fall and that
submitted online Dec. 2006 and accepted for publication June 2007.
methodology that helps attain this also quantifies the damage. The stan-
Discussion of this peer-reviewed and approved paper is invited and
goal can be thought of as a roof fall dard also requires the operator to
must be submitted to SME Publications Dept. prior to Feb. 29, 2008.
risk-assessment method. An effec- take steps to prevent a recurrence.
tive roof fall risk-assessment method The mining law, however, does not
includes the ability to observe vari- specifically require that information
able roof conditions and assess how much these condi- about hazards that could cause roof falls be displayed on
tions represent the potential for a roof fall capable of mine maps or communicated to mine workers.
injuring miners. This methodology should rank the risks
associated with varying conditions, should be reasonably Why is a roof fall risk-assessment method
reproducible and should clearly indicate roof fall risk to important for improving miner safety?
all mine personnel responsible for the design, approval The potential for roof falls in underground mines is
or installation of controls that either stabilize the roof a significant danger for mine workers. In 2006, 10 fatal
or lessen the exposure to roof falls. This paper focuses ground fall injuries occurred (Table 1). Also, during the
on the risk-assessment issues, leaving the roof fall risk- 10-year period from 1996 through 2005, 7,738 miners
management process, where controls are designed and were injured from roof falls in underground coal, metal,
used to reduce risk, to another discussion. nonmetal and stone mines (MSHA, 2005). Coal mines
One of the most important safety issues at any mining had the highest rate, 1.75 roof fall injuries per 200,000
site is the need to identify the location and nature of roof hours worked underground (Table 2). While this rate
fall hazards. The mining law requires that roof falls be dropped over this period, there were still 581 recorded
reported to enforcement agencies by Form 7000-1. Roof roof fall injuries in 2005, with many classified as severe.
fall locations are to be displayed on mine maps and made Fatal injury trends from 1996 to 2005 were equally trou-
available to miners or their representatives. The Code of bling, with 100 roof fall fatalities. While coal mining had
Federal Regulations, Title 30 Part 50 Section 2, defines a the highest number with 82, metal mining had the high-
reportable roof fall as “an unplanned roof fall at or above est rate with 0.03 fatalities per 100,000 miners (Table 1).
the anchorage horizon in active workings where roof These statistics attest to the seriousness of this safety
issue, although roof fall injuries decreased from 1.71 in
1996 to 1.19 in 2005 per 200,000 hours worked (Table
Abstract 2). Clearly, progress in miner safety has been made, but
further improvement is possible. It is imperative that new
Reducing the number of roof fall injuries is a goal of the safety techniques and methodologies continue to be de-
NIOSH mine safety research program. Central to this ef- veloped, so this downward trend in roof fall injures can
fort is the development of assessment techniques to help be maintained.
identify the nature of the risks associated with working Most safety decisions in the U.S. mining industry are
under potentially hazardous roof conditions. This paper guided by company policy and the requirements of state
discusses a method to determine the roof fall risk using and federal regulations. These decisions have been suc-
a qualitative risk-analysis technique. The ability to deter- cessful in reducing roof fall injuries (Table 2). For this
mine roof fall risk has been a long-standing goal of safety study, the author’s underlying assumption is that incorpo-
professionals and could provide the kind of information rating risk-assessment and risk-management methods to
needed by on-site personnel responsible for worker safety the existing decision-making process will help to further
to mitigate roof fall injuries. reduce miner injury rates.
FIGURE 1 problems carefully with new or existing mining meth-
ods, new equipment or other operational problems (Joy,
Flow diagram depicting the generalized structure of roof
2001). Joy estimates that at least 80 percent of all Aus-
fall risk assessment activities and its relation to risk
tralian coal mines have performed some form of struc-
management activities.
tured, team-based risk assessment/risk management.
Tools used in these exercises include HAZOP (Hazard
and Operability Analyses), FMECA (Failure Modes,
Effects and Criticality Analysis), WRAC (Workplace
Risk Assessment and Control) and the BTA (Bow Tie
Analysis). All of these tools and techniques are defined
in a framework by Joy (2006) to explain the manage-
ment of risk in the minerals industry. Lastly, the Miner-
als Industry Safety and Health Center (MISHC) Web
site is an excellent source for information on Australia’s
diverse risk-assessment/risk-management approaches
(www.mishc.up.edu.au).