New Drill-Monitoring System Evaluates Strata Strength in Real Time

Details

• Personal Author:
  Howie, Wayne L. ; Miller GG ; Utt, Walter K. ; Woodward CC
• Description:
  The process of roof drilling and bolting is one of the most dangerous jobs in underground mining. In the United States, roof drilling and bolting results in about 1,000 accidents with injuries each year. Researchers from the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are studying the feasibility of using a drill-monitoring system to estimate the strength of successive layers of rock and assess the integrity of a mine roof. Such a system would allow roof drill operators to be warned when a weak layer is being drilled. Using measurements taken during drilling, a neural network can classify mine roof strata in terms of relative strength. The concept has been proven in principle. This research project was undertaken to increase the safety of underground miners, especially those involved in roof bolting. The system should be applicable to the mobile drills now used in underground mines, and the system would likely find wider application as well. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Mining Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Coal-mining Mine-workers Miners Mining-equipment Mining-industry Occupational-hazards Rock-bursts Rock-mechanics Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-practices Work-analysis Work-areas Work-environment Work-practices Worker-health Workplace-monitoring

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  1873352297
• ISSN:
  1075-8623
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SRL - Spokane Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  87-92
• Volume:
  312
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20033379
• Citation:
  Trans Soc Min Metall Explor 2003 Jan; 312:87-92
• Editor(s):
  Yernberg WR
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Transactions of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f3f0685f2ea1123088e6a9445dc88e85479f519cf435c344e1c3682265819503b22082b6aed1b44a3f5d2f5fba2e20985441df45e0aeb10355a6d6b46f8d4f9e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/226909/cdc_226909_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1002.52 KB ]