Page 40 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

26 Advances in Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

This occurred, for example, following the series of disasters during the period from
2001 to 2006 after which the MINER Act was passed.
One final point is made: The best operators link improvements in productivity and
safety into the core of their decision making because they believe the adage that “a
productive mine is a safe mine.” The sanctioning of the Mine Safety Technology
and Training Commission (MSTTC) report [23] as an independent tripartite study
by the National Mining Association (NMA) demonstrated the commitment of its
members to couple safety and productivity together as linked priorities. Boldly,
NMA also ensured that the MSTTC was tripartite in composition (industry, miner rep-
resentatives, and neutral parties, including government) and included a chief execu-
tive officer of a large corporation and a vice president of safety for another large
corporation as part of their commitment. The aforementioned CORESafety, as one
example, is a product of pursuing the commitment made by NMA members to the
more than 71 recommendations of the MSTTC.

2.5 Making productivity and safety linked priorities

The primary goal of an equal-priority production and safety management system is to
seek continuous improvement of performance in both aspects. This is accomplished
by eliminating losses of life, disabilities, and injuries to workers; by building compe-
tent infrastructure and equipment; by prioritizing effectiveness and efficiency of the
operation; and by making everyone aware of the financial performance of the enter-
prise. Pursuing this overall goal along with establishing the driving policies, effective
planning of system and performance details, good execution of specified practices,
monitoring of key performance measures, giving feedback on performance to the
entire workforce, and correcting deviations from plans will achieve a safe, productive,
efficient and cost-effective coal-mining enterprise. An embedded strong risk manage-
ment subsystem is at the core of the detailed aspects of any production and safety man-
agement system.
Many countries, provinces within countries, and national as well as international
governing bodies and organizations have developed such systems and/or codes of
practices. For example, in the US, CORESafety was developed by the National Min-
ing Association over a period of time following the report of the MSTTC in the after-
math of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. Another excellent example was
published by the New South Wales (Australia) Mine Safety organization. The man-
agement systems described in these documents contain essentially the same provi-
sions, with the key aspects described in the previous paragraph fully developed.
Critical components essential to achievement of the goals of such a system, once
created, are the following:
Commitment of top management to it.
l
l Full commitment and indoctrination of management, at all levels, and the workforce.
l Creation of a culture of continuous improvement of the corporate-wide mining operations to
a safe, productive, efficient, and cost-effective enterprise.