Increasing roof bolter operator awareness to risks of falling roof material during the bolting cycle.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Althouse RC ; Klishis MJ ; Layne LA ; Lies GM
• Description:
  The exposure of roof bolter operators to falling roof material during the bolting cycle was examined and recommendations of safer worker practices were presented. A severity weighted index was developed to determine risk by the amount of time bolter operators spent in performing specific work routines as well as the seriousness of the worker's injuries. Statistics from the West Virginia Safety Information System Data revealed that approximately 53% of the 566 reported personal injuries due to roof falls involved days lost. The average days lost to nonfatal injuries from work routine was 29.3 days. Roof bolting work tasks associated with injuries resulting from roof falls included face preparation, tramming and positioning equipment, drilling, and bolt installation. Critical exposure points of bolting work were identified, and a roof bolter observation checklist was developed to be used for worksite inspections and job safety sampling. Several recommendations for minimizing bolter operator risk during specific work related tasks were proposed. The authors conclude that worksite observations of bolter operators and injury data analysis are an effective means of identifying potential causes of task related injuries. Factors such as injuries, time, and severity are important in calculating a severity weighted index which assists in determining specific areas for safety improvements. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Coal Coal Mining Mining Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Risk Assessment Safety Safety Management

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• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention; Coal-miners; Coal-mining; Humans; Occupational-accidents; Occupational-hazards; Risk-analysis; Safety-measures; Work-practices;
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  69-78
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00210651
• Citation:
  Preventing Coal Mine Groundfall Accidents: How to Identify and Respond to Geologic Hazards and Prevent Unsafe Worker Behavior. Proceedings: U.S. Bureau of Mines Technology Transfer Seminar, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Information Circular, No. 9332 1992 Jan; :69-78
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Preventing Coal Mine Groundfall Accidents: How to Identify and Respond to Geologic Hazards and Prevent Unsafe Worker Behavior. Proceedings: U.S. Bureau of Mines Technology Transfer Seminar, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Information Circular, No. 9332
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/243182/cdc_243182_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]