Page 41 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Safety and productivity in coal mining—How to make both the top priority 27

Table 2.12 New South Wales coal fatal injury
frequency rate (FIFR) and lost time injury
frequency rate (LTIFR) 5-year averages [23a]
End year FIFR LTIFR
2004–05 0.062 24.60
2005–06 0.041 21.04
2006–07 0.038 18.90
2007–08 0.038 15.95
2008–09 0.024 13.19
2009–10 0.024 11.01
2010–11 0.028 9.19
2011–12 0.021 6.97
2012–13 0.021 6.21
2013–14 0.021 5.42

An example of significant progress made by requiring a mine safety management plan
(system) on a broad basis can be seen in New South Wales, Australia. In Table 2.12,
significant continuous improvement on the fatal injury frequency rate (FIFR) for the
coal sector is revealed over a 10-year period from 2004 to 2014 using 5-year averages.
The FIFR is calculated as follows:

ð Number of fatalities 1000 employeesÞ=number of employees

Similarly, Table 2.12 also shows continuous improvement on the Lost Time Injury
Frequency Rate (LTIFR) for the coal sector over the same period, again using
5-year averages. The LTIFR is calculated as follows:

ð Number of lost time injuries 1, 000, 000Þ=number of hours worked
Reduction improvements for these metrics were 66.1% and 78.0%, respectively, for
the FIFR and the LTIFR. Two other important features driving these improvements
were part of the NSW 2004 Act, namely, the requirements of duty of care and risk
management.
In the US, during October of 2010, MSHA was considering rulemaking on safety
and health management programs for mines and sought comments from across the
nation on the role of such programs for improving mine safety and health performance
[24]. Seventeen written presentations were submitted on the topic. Presenters included
large mining companies from coal and noncoal operations, organized labor, national
associations, and a government agency. Although good evidence was given regarding
the value of strong safety and health management systems, requiring all mining com-
panies to do it, regardless of the size of the company and its mines, appeared problem-
atic. There are tens of thousands of small mines in the US, and the burden of such
programs on economic viability would have been tremendous for them. It is