Recognition of Illuminated Coloured Markers That Designate Primary and Secondary Mine Escapeways

Details

• Personal Author:
  Demich B ; Macdonald BD ; Martell M ; Rubinstein EN ; Sammarco, John J.
• Description:
  It is critical for the safety of miners to be able to escape, unaided, during a mine emergency. Self-escape is challenging in the presence of smoke that can occur during a mine emergency. To assist self-escape, coloured markers in underground mines designate the primary/secondary escapeways, but no universal colour code exists. Ten participants were tested to recognize the colour and designation (primary/secondary) of fluorescent yellow-green (FYG), yellow (Y), white (W) and green (G) escapeway markers in both a clear and smoked-filled environment. The overall misidentification rate for all colours was 1.9% and 18.1%, respectively, in clear and smoke conditions. FYG had the highest misidentification percentage for both conditions. For the marker designation tests, participants were most accurate in clear conditions (100.0%) for the FYG+W, Y+G, G+W and W+FYG combinations, and least accurate (89.6%) for the Y+FYG combination, while for smoke conditions participants were most accurate for the G+Y combination (95.8%). The overall effect of colour combination was significant, indicating that the colour combination for primary/secondary recognition is a significant factor where the G+Y combination was best. It can be inferred from these data that the colour combination is an important factor in participants' ability to recognize primary/secondary escapeway markers in smoke conditions. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Emergency Egress Escapeways Light Source Mine Escapes Mine Safety Mining Industry Underground Mines
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1477-1535
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059571
• Citation:
  Light Res Technol 2020 Dec; 52(8):959-975
• Contact Point Address:
  JJ Sammarco, Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of Mine Health and Safety Research, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, USA
• Email:
  zia4@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Lighting Research & Technology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a8af84ffcb39938155b09a7a919c6abb00bf09fce5cb218ba789a1a87da94149def427005ad657ac2d1d5d6d1f876cec87457ab34cb670e9de7e6e9707d2d9ed
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215359/cdc_215359_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 882.66 KB ]