Page 38 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

24 Advances in Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

2.4 Evolution of safety practices at mines and plants
since 1969

The coal industry faced an entirely new and significant challenge following passage of
the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The challenge was shaped by many new,
very specific safety and health provisions, including a comprehensive set of provisions
related to mine equipment, mine systems, hazards, examinations, training, and work
practices, to name a few. Underground coal mines, in particular, had the greatest
challenge.
At the time of the 1969 Act, safety practices were many, but not driven hard by
regulations or the possibility of penalties (i.e., elevated citations and fines). Many
safety practices, particularly in mines owned and operated by larger corporations,
were reasonably comprehensive and led by a safety director with assistants. The fol-
lowing list of safety practices prior to the 1969 Act are not all encompassing, but also
are not reflective of the more extensive requirements following the 1969 Act:
l Initial training for new miners.
l Walk-through and/or drive-through orientation to the mine environment.
l On-the-job training for a newly assigned job.
l Training on hazards and their control in the mine.
l Training on first aid, ventilation principles, roof control principles, escape from an emer-
gency, use of a CO-type self-rescuer, etc.
l Check-in, check-out system.
Mining sequence plan.
l
Transportation and mine hoist/cage signals.
l
Safety department inspections of mines and reports with follow-up.
l
Safety inspections of mines by a safety committee with reports for follow-up, especially if a
l
union mine.
l In union mines, rights of miners.
l Accident reporting.
l Employment of a doctor on call for injuries.
l Often a nurse on day shift only.
Following the 1969 Act, most everything became prescriptive, and not following the
regulatory provisions resulted in citations, after which abatement of the cited condi-
tions had to be done quickly. Special legal books had to be kept on mine examinations,
which were much more comprehensive and occurred multiple times on all work shifts.
Examination records also had to be kept and made available for scrutiny on equip-
ment, mine fans, sampling of dust levels in high-exposure areas, etc. Training was
much more prescriptive with topics and time-requirements set. Task training, hazard
training of visitors, and annual retraining became required.
New safety practices began to emerge to help maintain compliance with the com-
prehensive new regulatory provisions. Systematic planning and record keeping was
necessary to ensure such things as equipment inspections, examinations of the mine
on time schedules, general checks of mine systems, assurance of first-aid and emer-
gency materials, etc. Tools such as Job Safety Analysis, plasticized cards for roof and