Developing and Maintaining Safety Programs for Improved Worker Performance: Don’t Forget the Basics

Details

• Personal Author:
  Althouse RC ; Klishis MJ
• Description:
  While mines are safer today than they were in the past, miners are still being injured, maimed, and killed, and the incident and severity rates for the mining industry are still higher than those for most other industries. What's more, fatality rates are higher in the Nation's smaller mines and highest in the smallest mines. What can be done to improve safety in small mines? One key to improved safety is worker performance. To be effective, companies need proactive safety interventions involving training, changes in policies or procedures, and/or modifications to equipment that address mine-specific needs and eliminate situations where the miner's actions unnecessarily expose him or her to hazards. While outside resources such as governmental agencies, academic institutions, and equipment manufacturers can provide assistance to mine operators, it is up to individual mines and companies to develop effective safety programs. This paper reviews the basics of developing safety interventions aimed at improving worker performance and describes approaches for maintaining program effectiveness. This information is based on research conducted at West Virginia University under U.S. Bureau of Mines Cooperative Agreements C0167023 and C0178052. Emphasis is given to identifying performance discrepancies (hazardous behaviors) by observations (safety sampling), accident data analysis, and input from workers and supervisors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Behavior Coal Coal Mining Mining Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Staff Development

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• Keywords:
  Accidents Coal-miners Coal-mining Injuries Mine-workers Miners Risk-factors Safety-education Safety-measures Training Traumatic-injuries Underground-miners Underground-mining Work-performance Workers

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRC - Pittsburgh Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  55-70
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042084
• Citation:
  Improving safety at small underground mines. Peters RH ed. Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, SP 18-94, 1994 Jan; :55-70
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Improving safety at small underground mines
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:92ed173180cec9a8e207abcf61facb5be1b69404f16c1a9f080e896bd14d9f1b3c3ff91eecab48467f905f27b076412965a25eb3085a05eec5f04751ec899bad
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227525/cdc_227525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 780.65 KB ]