Imminent Danger: Characterizing Uncertainty in Critically Hazardous Mining Situations

Details

• Personal Author:
  Eiter BM ; Hrica, Jonathan ; Willmer DR
• Description:
  Mineworkers are routinely tasked with making critically important decisions about whether or not a hazard presents an imminent danger. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) collected formative data to investigate mine safety professional perspectives on workplace examinations, which revealed a potential gap in how mineworkers are assessing risk. During interviews, participants indicated having processes in place for what should be done once an imminent danger situation is identified. Critically, however, they report having no systematic methodology for mineworkers to use to determine if a hazard is considered imminent danger. While this is important for all imminent danger situations (e.g., failure to lockout/tagout), it is especially important for those situations that are not immediately recognizable as imminent danger. In this paper, we identify and describe, three distinct categories of imminent danger complexity and discuss potential steps that could lead to improved identification of imminent danger situations. Finally, we identify potential practices to incorporate into risk management efforts, including feedback, communication, and specialized training to increase awareness of imminent danger situations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Decision Making Emergencies Hazardous Substances Mining Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Coal Miners Communication Systems Decision Making Emergency Response Feedback Controls Hazard Communication Hazard Identification Hazard Recognition Humans Miners Mine Safety Mining-industry Process Control Professional Workers Risk Assessment Risk Management Safety Personnel Safety Practices Signal Devices Training Warning Systems Work Operations

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051323
• Citation:
  2018 SME Annual Meeting, February 25-28, 2018, Minneapolis, Minnesota, preprint 18-015. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2018 Feb; :1-6
• Contact Point Address:
  B. M. Eiter, NIOSH, Pittsburgh, PA
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2018 SME Annual Meeting, February 25-28, 2018, Minneapolis, Minnesota, preprint 18-015
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c9fd3675218ea7e881bce9ea6044c11e24ab7e88abe374a7af42b7dd8ba757d3549d955bd9cdd66ed9844ecf41ac76ec88d140f3052076d17baa32a1981ba62a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227652/cdc_227652_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 79.96 KB ]