Page 31 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Safety and productivity in coal mining—How to make both the top priority 17

Fatal IR, and NFDL IR are similar; however, productivity steadily and significantly
increased in marker years. It is noted that magnitudes of both the Fatal IR and the
NFDL IR were much lower than for underground mines, reflective of the increased
high-risk hazards in underground coal mines.

2.2.5 Sustainability study of safety performance of surface
and underground mines: 2008–13

Reflective of the need for pursuit of sustainability-related improvements in safety and
environmental performances in the US, a major electric power company (American
Electric Power) began to examine the performance of its coal suppliers (mines).
Because comprehensive data were available on coal mine safety, the company sought
comparisons of the suppliers’ performances relative to national averages in key safety
metrics. Through use of a consultant, national government coal mine safety data were
gathered, analyzed, compared, and summarized in an annual report [9] titled
“Sustainability Survey of AEP Coal Suppliers.” Detailed examples from the study
are presented next revealing the importance of safety performance improvements
in the public’s eye. One additional metric was introduced, the severity measure
(SM), which is calculated as the total days lost and restricted work days for an injured
miner plus statutory days charged for various levels of disability and death. This
important metric, later adopted by the federal enforcement agency (MSHA) in its pro-
cedure to identify poor safety performers, will be described in Section 2.3. Results of
the survey are presented for large surface mines and large underground mines over the
6-year period from 2008 to 2013. Results in the survey were presented by mine-size
category (large, medium, small, and very small) because of the significant differences
in the level of resources available, quality of the equipment, size of the workforce,
physical size of the mine complex, and other factors like work and safety culture.
A summary of overall results was published [10].

2.2.5.1 Fatality and injury metrics

Table 2.6 summarizes the safety performance of large surface mines (employing 100
or more miners) during the entire survey period. Comparisons of metrics are made to
the national performance for each metric. Table 2.6 reveals that AEP’s large surface
mine coal suppliers had a Fatal IR at or below the national average for this mine-size
category in 5 of 6 years. Once the number of fatalities for a subsector reaches a very
low level, one or two fatalities make a significant difference in the Fatal IR, which was
the case in 2013 for the large-surface coal mine category.
On the other hand, when a much larger number of injuries occur, as reflected by the
NFDL IR, the metric is less sensitive to a low increase in count. Table 2.6 reveals that,
during the period being considered, the suppliers’ NFDL IR was better than the
national average in all 6 years, reflecting a consistent superior performance.
The Severity Measure reflects the intensity of combined injuries and disabilities,
and it can fluctuate significantly from year to year, as revealed in Table 2.6. If several
full disabilities occur in a year (6000-day statutory charge each), then the Severity
Measure will rise dramatically. During this period, the suppliers’ Severity Measure