Mining Safety and Health Research at NIOSH Reviews of Research Programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2007) / Chapter Skim
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4 Evaluation of Relevance and Impact of the NIOSH Mining Program
4 Evaluation of Relevance and Impact of the NIOSH Mining Program
Pages 58-67
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From page 58... ...
Statistics reveal major reductions in the number and rate of illnesses, accidents, and injuries. Technology advances are evident in several areas including mining methods, respirable dust control, ground failure prevention, methane emission control, disaster prevention, and equipment safety.
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From page 59... ...
The committee recognizes that the Mining Program mission cannot be accomplished "through a focused program of research and prevention" alone. Workplace improvements require, among other things, implementation of research results into practice.
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From page 60... ...
EvALUATION OF RELEvANCE The Mining Program combines research in areas of long-standing concern (for example respiratory disease, ground failure, traumatic injury prevention, and disas ter prevention) and research arising from changing mining conditions (including noise-induced hearing loss prevention, repetitive injury prevention, surveillance, chemical hazards, and training)
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From page 61... ...
However, the committee is concerned about how some intermediate goals and activities move the program toward the achievement of top-level goals. For example, in respiratory disease prevention research, intermediate goals regarding dust exposure control in longwall faces and diesel emission exposures in underground mining could be more ambitious, particularly in view of advances already made in both areas.
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From page 62... ...
Relevance Scoring On the basis of its deliberations, the committee concludes that Mining Program research is in high-priority areas and adequately connected to improvements in the workplace. It is moderately involved in transfer activities.
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From page 63... ...
Even so, a few activities have the potential to reduce hearing loss among workers. For example, hearing loss simulator software developed by the Mining Program has been incorporated by MSHA into its training program; the Mining Program has promoted the "roll-and-hold" technique for the insertion of foam ear plugs, which has the potential to reduce noise exposure by as much as 9 dB; and surveillance projects are well directed toward relating exposure to noise sources.
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From page 64... ...
Further details on hearing loss prevention research can be found in Chapter 9. Cumulative Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Research The Mining Program has renewed attention to the application of human fac tors engineering to reduce cumulative injuries and has developed facilities, such as the human performance research mine, the motion analysis capture system, and the human factors engineering laboratory, to conduct its research.
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From page 65... ...
Details of mine disaster prevention research can be found in Chapter 12. ground Failure Prevention Research The Mining Program is responsible for rock safety engineering and reduction of injuries and fatalities caused by rock fall, collapse, and other rock failure events associated with mine excavations.
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From page 66... ...
For example, Mining Program training materials are used at MSHA's National Mine Health and Safety Academy, which distributes them to the mining community through its regular distribution channels; several aggregate mining companies have incorporated a Mining Pro gram interactive training program aimed at reducing hazards among construction, maintenance, and repair workers into their Part 46 (CFR Title 30) training; and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania uses a Mining Program-developed computer based training simulation program for emergency command center leaders in its annual refresher training work.
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From page 67... ...
, and likely in a number of areas (disaster prevention, musculoskeletal injury prevention)
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