Psychological and Behavioral Aspects of Occupational Safety and Health in the US Coal Mining Industry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kowalski-Trakofler, Kathleen M. ; McWilliams, Linda J. ; Reissman, Dori B. ; Vaught C
• Description:
  In the US mining industry, psychological aspects of safety and health are defined very broadly as psychosocial issues. Psychology is embraced literally as the study of human behavior, and the focus is on studying human behavior as it relates to injuries and fatalities with the goal of mitigating further instances. This chapter explores the psychological and behavioral dimensions of occupational safety and health (also referred to as OSH) for workers mining coal underground. Mining has a history of disasters that have formed the framework for an array of OSH interventions. Within the mining industry, the severity of the hazardous environment has necessitated a focus on controlling, managing, and changing the physical environment or "engineering out" the hazard. More recently, a growing body of research indicates that specific job/task and organizational-level factors may have a powerful influence on safe work practices and accident deterrence-thus reducing injuries and deaths of coal miners (Dejoy, Gershon and Schaffer, 2004). Although it must be noted that many psychosocial aspects of OSH in mining are relevant to all major mining sectors (that is, coal, metal, non-metal, stone, and sand and gravel) as well as many other hazardous industries (commercial fishing, transportation, agriculture) the human behavior issues addressed here have tended to arise from underground coal mining. The chapter is organized to first present the reader with an introduction to the underground coal mining environment, followed by lessons learned from mining disasters. The authors present a model to reduce worker exposure. The research in key psychosocial areas is discussed including judgment decision making and leadership in escape, training, and the introduction of refuge chambers into underground mines. Research on the aging mining population, shift work, hazard recognition, job stress, and resiliency is discussed. The authors conclude with a summary and thoughts for the future. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Behavior Coal Coal Mining Decision Making Emergencies Engineering Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Mental Health Mining Mortality Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Staff Development

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• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Behavior-patterns Coal-miners Coal-mining Decision-making Disaster-prevention Emergency-response Emergency-shelters Employee-exposure Engineering-controls Environmental-control Environmental-hazards Environmental-technology Escape-systems Hazards Injury-prevention Management-personnel Miners Mining-industry Mortality-data Psychological-factors Safety-climate Safety-practices Sociological-factors Training Traumatic-injuries Underground-miners Underground-mining Work-organization Work-practices

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9780566089831
• Publisher:
  Gower
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research ; OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  197-222
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039508
• Citation:
  Occupational health and safety. Burke RJ, Clarke S, Cooper CL, eds., Burlington, VT: Gower, 2011 Aug; :197-222
• Editor(s):
  Burke RJ; Clarke S; Cooper CL
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational health and safety
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b6498789cfe9eb96417baea6fdac6fbed9434c90d7f7b40d72322fffc291e0dee48e1de633a898b598120b704c8bc9c29fcc5d03eb4fe5eef4d8df9615c4533a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227365/cdc_227365_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 12.61 MB ]