# Presentation: 288879

## PRODUCT INSTALLATION CONTRACTORSSERVING THE MINING INDUSTRY

- Authors:	Ed Barber - Strata Mine Services, Inc.
- 	John Breedlove - HeiTech
- 	Al Campoli - Minova USA
- 	Eric Smith - Sub-Technical

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What do we do?
- Why are we here?
- Who do we serve?
- Where do we fit in?
- What is our safety record?
- What are our training requirements?
- What are our training issues?
- Future of Installation Contractors in the Mining Industry.
- What can we do?

## What do we do?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What do we do?
- We supply both products and labor to the mining industry.
- Our labor is geared to the professional installation of our individual products.
- Because of our expertise we are often asked to consult on specific mining problems.

## Why are we here?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Why are we here?
- Products and services we offer are usually not performed at mines on a regular basis.  Therefore, trained personnel are not available at the mine.
- The expertise needed to install our products is unique and changes almost daily.
- Limited experienced personnel available at the mines.

## Who do we serve?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Who do we serve?
- We are available to serve all mining companies, large and small.

## Where do we fit in?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Where do we fit in?
- Together we 4 product installation contractors average 82,200 underground man hours per year.
- We provide an experienced and trained work force for the installation and application of our products.
- Our service reduces the possibility of injury and eliminates many hazards that may occur when untrained workers are given the task to perform duties that are new or unfamiliar to them.

## What is our safety record?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What is our safety record?
- Our service reduces the possibility of injury and eliminates many hazards that may occur when untrained workers are given the task to perform duties that are new or unfamiliar to them.
- Our lost time accident rate is excellent.
- In fact it is zero for three of us.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Why is our safety record so strong?
- We do very specific tasks.
- Our people are well trained to do these tasks.
- Our manufacturing facilities represent significant assets that have to be protected.
- Protection of these manufacturing assets requires a higher standard of safety and accountability than labor only contractors.

## What are our training requirements?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Product Installation Contractor Yearly Training Requirements Per Man
- MSHA Annual Retraining - 8 hours
- Kentucky Annual Retraining - 8 hours
- West Virginia Contractor Training - 8 hours
- OSHA Required Shop Training - 4 hours
- Intracompany Product Training - 8 hours min.
- Task & Hazard Mine Site Training at each job site - approximately 24 hours total
- Customer Required Training - 4 hours
- Each employee is receiving approximately 64 training hours per year.

## What are our training issues?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What are our training issues?
- Are we getting maximum benefit from training?
- At least 20 hours of the 64 hours are repetition.
- Need training focused on site specific work place issues.
- Don’t use us as a farm team for customer workforce.
- Our people have specific skills that have been developed over time and represent a valuable asset to our mining customers.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Site specific training topics
- Detailed escape way training
- Entry marking system
- Self rescuer storage locations
- Reference maps for our shift leaders
- Hoist operating system operation
- Minimize general training issues
- Don’t need the same training as a new hire.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Issues we have to deal with as product installation contractors
- We carry $5,000,000.00 to $10,000,000.00 general liability insurance.
- We have miners certified in multiple states.
- We deal with and pay into multiple states worker’s compensation funds or policies.
- Contractor reporting in several states.
- Repetitious man hour and accident reporting.
- Wage bond posting in multiple states.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What is the concern we all have?
- Fatalities and injuries

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Statistics for 2004 for all contractors.
- 5 fatalities in the US among contractors.
- 436 reported non-fatal lost day injuries among contractors.
- 164 reported no lost day injuries among contractors.

## Future of Installation Contractors Serving the Mining Industry!

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Future of Product Installation Contractors in our Industry
- The need for specialized products and their installation will continue to grow.
- The inability for coal companies to adequately staff their mines with experienced miners will increase the need for experienced contractors.
- The burden of developing new methods and concepts has been given to the vendors, due to reduced staffing at coal companies.  The development of these new products will also require expertise in installation.
- Cost savings for coal companies.  They only pay for experienced labor with expertise when the projects are needed.

## What can we do?

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- What can we do?
- With up to 64 hours of training per man per year - more training probably won’t help.
- Requiring us to fill out more repetitive forms won’t help.
- Making any violations levied on contractors more severe won’t help.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Suggestions for improvement
- Allow us to eliminate duplicate training not reduce training hours.  Focus mine level training on site specific issues of escape way and emergency host operation.
- States and MSHA share information submitted thus reducing the burden of paperwork.  This could allow more of our time to be spent working on reducing fatalities and injuries instead of filling our reports.
- Categorize contractors to establish if certain types of contractors are at more jeopardy for fatalities and injuries.  Use this information to help establish a plan for reduction.
- Do direct mailings to contractors to keep us up-to-date of types of injuries among contractors.  We can post and include in our safety talks.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Suggestions for improvement
- Open lines of communication between contractors, state agencies, and MSHA.  Allow us to present to you what we do, how we do it, and why we do things certain ways.
- Establish local problem solving groups to work on reducing fatalities and injuries among contractors.  Include mining companies who use contractors on a regular basis, MSHA, state agencies, and contractors.
- Develop a national database on contractors, showing training, required forms such as SCSR testing, violations, etc.  Make this available to all MSHA districts and all state agencies.
- More effective hazard training at mine site.  More time on site specific information less time on things we get repeatedly like SCSR.

## Product Installation ContractorsServing the Mining Industry

- Who can help reduce injuries and fatalities among contractors?

- The contractors themselves.  Enforcement of safety rules and regulations.
- The coal companies who we are contracting for.  Better on-site training.  Remembering we are new to their everyday environment and not to mining.
- MSHA & State Agencies.  Sharing and providing Contractors with up-to-date information.