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Mining Project: Identify and Characterize Health Hazards Associated with Surface Stone, Sand and Gravel (SSG) Mining and Processing
Keywords: Hazard recognition
This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
Principal Investigator
Brianna M. Eiter -  Request informationStart Date
10/1/2021End Date
3/31/2023Objective
To reduce risk of injury or illness, mine workers must be able to identify and mitigate hazards where they work. Hazard recognition is therefore a necessary skill, and recent NIOSH research indicates a critical and continuous need for improvement remains. This pilot project constitutes a formative research effort to identify and characterize health hazards in mining.
Research Summary

Most hazard recognition research has focused primarily on safety related hazards (e.g., material on walkways; vehicle in blind spot) as these hazards often pose an immediate risk of injury or death to the mine worker. However, health hazards (e.g., dust, noise, heat) are as critical for mine workers as safety related hazards as they contribute to occupational illnesses not only in the short term, while the mine worker is employed at the mine site, but they can also contribute to illness and disability later in life during retirement and negatively affect quality and longevity of life. Exposure to health hazards continues to be poorly documented and reported in a systematic manner among mining sectors and a gap exists in identifying and characterizing a set of health hazards. The purpose of this pilot project was to identify health hazards and characterize specific aspects of those hazards (e.g., environmental indicators, whether and how the hazard can be visualized or not, short- and long-term consequences to exposure, etc.) to inform the design of future research focused on mine worker health hazard recognition.
To achieve the aims of the project, researchers conducted focused literature reviews, analyses of health hazard data sources (e.g., Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) reports, Hearing Conservation Programs (HCP), Hazard Communication (HazCom) and Hazard Communication Plan Standards, MSHA fatality and incident data), as well as a review of materials and secondary analysis of data from a previous NIOSH research study.
This pilot research was novel because of the gap in research related to health hazard exposures and hazard recognition for the mining industry. Information from project tasks, including a list of health hazards, what is necessary for workers to identify those hazards while working, and potential short- and long-term consequences of exposure to those hazards is being used to inform effective interventions and strategies to improve mine worker recognition of health hazards, decrease health exposures, and improve outcomes. The worker population most likely to benefit from this research is SSG mine workers, including those working in processing facilities.

See Also
Assessing and Monitoring Open Pit Mine Highwalls
Defining Risk Perception and Tolerance Within a Decision Science Framework
Effective Hazard Recognition Training using a Latent-Image, Three-Dimensional Slide Simulation Exercise
Enhancing Mine Workers' Abilities to Identify Hazards at Sand, Stone, and Gravel Mines
Evaluation of Mining Activities Using a Scenario Interview Approach
EXAMiner - 1.1.1
A Fail-Safe Control System for a Mine Methane Pipeline
Hazard Recognition Challenge - 1.0
Major Hazard Risk Assessment Applied to Pillar Recovery Operations
Mapping Hazards with Microseismic Technology to Anticipate Roof Falls - A Case Study
Technology News 470 - Analysis of Hangups and Structural Failure in Underground Mine Ore Passes
Toolbox Training For Construction Aggregate Miners
Using Major Hazard Risk Assessment to Appraise and Manage Escapeway Instability Issues: A Case Study
Visual Performance for Incandescent and Solid-State Cap Lamps in an Underground Mining Environment
Page last reviewed: July 11, 2023
Page last updated: July 11, 2023
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program
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