A methodology for assessing underground coal mines for high safety-related risk

In 2008 the authors developed a methodology for assessing underground coal mines for high risk for major-hazard events. It focused on major hazard-related violations of safety standards associated with high-risk conditions. Later using the same stratified pilot sample of 31 mines, injury measures and MSHA citation data were combined into a Safe Performance Index (SPI). Using 2009 data, the database was expanded to 107 mines, which is a 30% sampling of all underground coal mines. The SPI was used to assess the relative safety-related risk of mines, including by mine-size category. The methodology can be used to assist companies, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or state agencies in targeting mines with high risk for serious injuries and elevated citations for remediation of their violation and/or injury experience.     

Methods to determine the mine gas explosibility – An overview

Mine gas explosions present a serious safety threat in the worldwide mining industry. Since the beginning of mining, many coal miners have been killed due to the explosions. Accordingly, on a regular basis, mine operators should get air samples from the underground atmosphere. At the same time, monitoring and tracking the explosibility of the air sample should be done as a timely matter to avoid any potential explosions. All these works can provide very important information to assist the mine operators to well understand the mine atmospheric status and its trends. In additional, when facing the coal spontaneous combustion, mine fire events, or other chemical reactions related mine accidents, determination of explosibility is a definitely significant work for the safety of miners and mine rescue personnel especially when planning and implementing any mine rescue strategies. For many years, mining engineers and researchers have developed a number of methods for assessing the explosibility of the air–gas-mixture. Their research results provide a baseline for judgments of the mine gas explosibility and in determining the extent of change. In this paper, main popular and typical methods used in mining industry to determine the mine gas explosibility are introduced and reviewed. Case demonstrations for each method are also shown and can be used to instruct readers to understand how to apply them. Finally, a brief discussion about the current methods is presented and some preliminary suggestions are also listed for the further improvements in the future research.     

计算机网络考试系统在山西煤矿安全培训中的应用实践

安全培训在煤矿安全管理中发挥着重要的作用。山西煤炭资源丰富,有包括地方、乡镇在内的煤矿4000余个,更需要通过科学、公正的考核手段保证安全培训质量,提高煤矿企业负责人的素质来保证煤矿的安全生产。传统的安全培训考试由于受到人力、物力和人情关系等主客观因素的影响,难以达到完全的公平、公正。而计算机网络考试通过题库随机出题、标准化判卷等技术手段恰好可以解决这些问题。由山西煤矿安全监察局组织开发的“山西省煤矿安全培训考试系统”,经过一年多安全培训考核的实践,取得良好的效果,基本实现了预期的设想。该系统的开发和应用为安全培训的科学化、规范化,为提高各类煤矿企业负责人的素质作出了有益的尝试。     

煤矿井下隐蔽火源反演研究

煤矿井下由于煤炭自燃引发的火灾是煤矿生产过程中一大突出灾害,一旦发生火灾将严重影响煤矿的正常生产,这不仅威胁着井下人员的生命安全,还会给国家带来巨大的经济损失。由于矿井下隐蔽火源是引发火灾的重大因素之一,所以要更好的解决煤炭自燃而引发火灾的问题,重中之重就是对煤炭自燃隐蔽火源位置的确定。只有准确的确定了火源的位置,才能有的放矢地进行灭火。本文结合煤矿井下煤炭自燃发火的特点,建立数学模型,把煤矿井下隐蔽火源位置确定问题归纳为热传导方程的寻源反问题,利用离散正则化方法求解热传导方程,克服了反演问题的不适定性,并应用matlab进行了反演数值模拟,验证了利用离散正则化反演方法的实用性,为防火、灭火采取措施提供了依据,在理论上也具有一定的研究与应用价值。     

Analysis of “high-dollar” value safety and health citations and orders for the US coal mines

This paper presents an analysis of a “high-dollar” value safety and health citations and orders for the US coal mines using the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) data. Term “high-dollar” value relates to penalty of $10,000 and more per citation or order. The study was based on historical MSHA data for the period from 01/01/2009 to 12/31/2009. Data shows that there were 1161 “high-dollar” value citations and orders in 2009 with a total penalty of almost $31-million. The most cited standard was 75.400 – “Accumulation of combustible material” with a 259 “high-dollar” value citations and total penalty of almost $5.9-million. Among all US states, the West Virginia coal mines recorded the highest number of citations and the total penalty value. Results of this study can be used by coal mining industry to help in prioritizing resource allocations and determining control strategies.     

“Vybuchovy trojuhelnik”: A software tool for evaluation of explosibility of coal mine atmosphere

Rescue operations during mine fires or methane explosions are highly dangerous for rescue workers. The knowledge of the composition of the coal mine atmosphere and the calculations of its explosibility may help to increase the safety of the rescuers. In the Czech Republic, a system called “Mine Gas Laboratory” (DPL) has been used for these purposes. The DPL allows measurement of the composition of the mine atmosphere and transmits the data necessary for evaluation to the surface. Up to now the explosibility evaluation of the coal mine atmosphere has depended either on the rescuers’ experience or on software code calculation. The code called “Vybuchovy trojuhelnik” (explosion triangle) is a graphical computing system intended for fast assessment of explosibility of fuel–air mixture. This article introduces the code and describes two simple methods of explosibility evaluation. The first method is “explosion triangle analysis”—a graphical method based on empirical graphs transformed into equations. The second method uses thermodynamic calculation based on chemical balance dynamics and Gibbs and Helmholtz energy. According to the requirements of the Czech Bureau of Mining (CBU) and Central Mine Rescue Service (HBZS), the code solves the problems of explosion triangle for both standard and non-standard coal mine atmosphere compositions. Unfortunately, the atmosphere composition must be introduced manually due to the unknown format of the data transmitted from the old DPL model. On 1 September 2005, a project started to develop a new system for on-line monitoring and atmosphere explosibility evaluation. The system should be able to measure CO₂, O₂, CH₄, H₂ and CO concentrations as well as the wind speed, temperature and humidity. The “Vybuchovy trojuhelnik” code will be used as a basis for explosibility evaluation, and an on-line connection with the new model of DPL will be established.     

Coal dust particle size survey of US mines

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conducted a joint survey to determine the range of coal particle sizes found in dust samples collected from intake airways of US coal mines. The last comprehensive survey of this type was performed in the 1920s. The size of the coal dust is relevant to the amount of rock dust required to inert the coal dust, with more rock dust needed to inert finer sizes of coal dust.

Dust samples were collected by MSHA inspectors from several mines in each of MSHA's 10 bituminous Coal Mine Safety and Health Districts. Samples were normally collected in several intakes at each mine. The laboratory analysis procedures included acid leaching of the sample to remove the limestone rock dust, sonic sieving to determine the dust size, and low-temperature ashing of the sieved fractions to correct for any remaining incombustible matter. The results indicate that particle sizes of mine coal dust in intake airways are finer than those measured in the 1920s. This finer size coal dust in intake airways would require more incombustible matter to be effectively inerted than the 65% incombustible specified in current regulations.     

贵州井下煤层爆破地震波特征及其影响

贵州省煤层赋存条件差,煤矿地质条件复杂。由于煤矿井下爆破采掘适应性强、初期投资小等特点,适应于地质条件复杂、断层多的源赋存复杂条件的中小型煤矿,因此目前贵州煤矿井下煤层采掘多采用爆破作业方式。但井下煤层爆破作业易引发煤尘、瓦斯爆炸、煤与瓦斯突出等矿山灾害,因此研究煤矿井下爆破规律及其对煤矿各方面安全的影响是十分必要和迫切的。通过比较选用小波包分析方法,对现场实验的井下煤层爆破地震波信号进行分析,得出其能量、频率等特征,并分析了其对前方煤体瓦斯抽放量及瓦斯压力的影响规律。     

Risk management and workers’ safety behavior control in coal mine

According to the risk management characteristics and the actual needs of safety production in coal mine, we thoroughly analyze the system of risk management method in coal mine and implement it in Geting Coal Mine. The system manages and controls the potential accident risks, hazard sources and human behavior risks. On this basis, the system of workers’ safety behavior control technology in coal mine is further studied, the “three disobeying” is classified and managed, the “three disobeying” database and safety countermeasures database are established, and the application software - the system of risk management and safety countermeasures optimization in coal mine based on B/S mode is developed and applied, which uses intranet to analyze and supervise the “three disobeying”, publish early-warning information, optimize management and control countermeasures; at the same time, the important prompting messages can be automatically sent to the mobile phones of relevant managers and the person in charge through public communication system in order to improve the real time capability and effectiveness of unsafe behavior control. The technological system and application software implemented in Geting Coal Mine has achieved good results.     

煤矿井下噪声危害分析及对策

煤矿井下噪声作为一种强污染和安全隐患并未得到充分的重视,为了说明加强井下噪声治理工作的必要性,分源分析了煤矿井下的噪声产生及其强度.分析结果表明煤矿高强度噪声污染可对井下工人的身体产生特异性和非特异性危害,同时也可直接或间接导致各种事故的发生,为矿井安全生产埋下了隐患.从井下噪声的产生、传递、接受三方面分别提出了降低和解决矿井噪声危害的方法和对策,得出不仅需要改进现有井下防噪技术,而且需要加强矿井行政管理,提高工人的防噪意识,才可降低矿井噪声的危害.但彻底根治煤矿井下噪声危害是一个综合性的难题,需要煤炭工业整体的发展和社会各界提高对劳动保护的重视程度.     

沁海煤矿瓦斯重大灾害及生产动态安全状况诊断

按照《煤矿安全规程》2010版制成安全检查表,运用安全检查表法和系统分析的方法对煤矿的主要系统存在的隐患进行逐项诊断,主要诊断矿井的瓦斯抽放系统、矿井的通风系统、矿井的防尘系统、矿井的防灭火系统以及矿井运输提升系统等。诊断主要是针对瓦斯重大灾害及矿井生产过程中违章违规现象以及矿井自然属性带来的系统固有隐患,对矿井中员工的操作规范情况也进行检查,并对存在的隐患和员工的错误操作提出相应的整改措施,促使煤矿及时对矿井存在的系统固有隐患和人为隐患进行整改,以消除在生产动态过程中查出的隐患,从而预防煤矿事故的发生。消灭了事故隐患,实际上也是把事故消灭在萌芽状态之中,达到防患于未然,提高我国煤矿安全生产水平。     

Post-explosion observations of experimental mine and laboratory coal dust explosions

The Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conducted joint research on dust explosions by studying post-explosion dust samples. The samples were collected after full-scale explosions at the PRL Lake Lynn Experimental Mine (LLEM), and after laboratory explosions in the PRL 20-L chamber and the Fike 1 m³ chamber. The dusts studied included both high- and low-volatile bituminous coals. Low temperature ashing for 24 h at 515 °C was used to measure the incombustible content of the dust before and after the explosions. The data showed that the post-explosion incombustible content was always as high as, or higher than the initial incombustible content. The MSHA alcohol coking test was used to determine the amount of coked dust in the post-explosion samples. The results showed that almost all coal dust that was suspended within the explosion flame produced significant amounts of coke. Measurements of floor dust concentrations after LLEM explosions were compared with the initial dust loadings to determine the transport distance of dust during an explosion. All these data will be useful in future forensic investigations of accidental dust explosions in coal mines, or elsewhere.     

中国煤矿安全技术进展

本文综述了我国在防治矿井瓦斯,矿井火灾和煤矿粉尘三个方面的技术概况。反映了为适应煤炭生产技术的发展,我国在这三方面的技术进展及所取得的效果。矿井瓦斯防治技术方面,主要介绍了矿井瓦斯涌出量的确定,瓦斯抽放工艺及装备,煤与瓦斯突出预测预报和综合防止煤与瓦斯突出技术的情况及成果。矿井火灾防治技术方面,着重介绍了矿井火灾预测预报技术,尤其是煤炭自燃发火早期预测预报技术以及煤矿自然发火防治技术中在灌浆代用材料,惰气防灭火等方面的发展及现状。煤矿粉尘防治技术方面,扼要介绍控制粉尘危险的基本途径,以防尘为中心包括降尘、除尘和防止煤尘爆炸及爆炸传播技术的一整套治理煤矿粉尘的工艺及装备,简要介绍了瓦斯煤尘爆炸的实验能力。通过本文的介绍,可以对我国在防治煤矿安全生产中主要自然灾害的技术对策和取得的成果有一个较全面的了解。     

Safety in the mining industry and the unfinished legacy of mining accidents: Safety levers and defense-in-depth for addressing mining hazards

Mining remains one of the most hazardous occupations worldwide and underground coal mines are especially notorious for their high accident rates. In this work, we provide an overview of the broad and multi-faceted topic of safety in the mining industry. After reviewing some statistics of mining accidents in the United States, we focus on one pervasive and deadly failure mode in mines, namely explosions. The repeated occurrence of mine explosions, often in similar manner, is the loud unfinished legacy of mining accidents and their occurrence in the 21st century is inexcusable and should constitute a strong call for action for all stakeholders in this industry to settle this problem. We analyze one such recent mine disaster in which deficiencies in various safety barriers failed to prevent the accident initiating event from occurring, then subsequent lines of defense failed to block this accident scenario from unfolding and to mitigate its consequences. We identify the technical, organizational, and regulatory deficiencies that failed to prevent the escalation of the mine hazards into an accident, and the accident into a “disaster”. This case study provides an opportunity to illustrate several concepts that help describe the phenomenology of accidents, such as initiating events, precursor or lead indicator, and accident pathogen. Next, we introduce the safety principle of defense-in-depth, which is the basis for regulations and risk-informed decisions by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and we examine its relevance and applicability to the mining system in support of accident prevention and coordinating actions on all the safety levers, technical, organizational, and regulatory to improve mining safety. The mining system includes the physical confines and characteristics of the mine, the equipment in the mine, the individuals and the organization that operate the mine, as well as the processes and regulatory constraints under which the mine operates. We conclude this article with the proposition for the establishment of defense-in-depth as the guiding safety principle for the mining industry and we indicate possible benefits for adopting this structured hazard-centric system approach to mining safety.     

我国非煤矿山安全生产科技进展与科技需求分析

在我国所称非煤矿山是指除去煤矿之外的所有矿山,包括露天矿山、地下矿山和联合开采矿山。近年来,我国针对非煤矿山安全重大科技问题开展了一些研究工作,科技投入有较大幅度增加,开展的国家“十一五”重点支撑项目“非煤矿山典型灾害防治关键技术研究与示范工程”等取得了一些成果。但是,非煤矿山的重大和特别重大生产安全事故发生频率仍处于较高水平,安全生产形势依然严峻,很多非煤矿山重大技术难题仍没有得到解决,急需研究适应我国非煤矿山特点的尾矿库安全技术、采空区治理技术、深井开采安全技术、高风险气田开发安全技术、自然灾害次生衍生生产安全事故预防技术等。     

安太堡露天煤矿职业健康安全管理体系绩效分析

通过对安太堡露天煤矿职业健康安全管理体系认证前后安全生产管理基础数据的调查和统计,采用定性和定量的分析方法对该企业的安全管理水平进行了绩效对比分析和模型分析。结果表明,对于露天煤矿企业,建立职业健康安全管理体系有利于提高企业安全管理的水平;同时证明,该绩效分析方法具有分析过程简单、分析结果科学实用等优点。     

Measuring mining safety with injury statistics: lost workdays as indicators of risk

PROBLEM: Mining in the United States remains one of the most hazardous industries, despite significant reductions in fatal injury rates over the last century. Coal mine fatality rates, for example, have dropped almost a thousand-fold since their peak in 1908. While incidence rates are very important indicators, lost worktime measures offer an alternative metric for evaluating job safety and health performance. The first objective of this study examined the distributions and summary statistics of all injuries reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1983 through 2004. Over the period studied (1983-2004), there were 31,515,368 lost workdays associated with mining injuries, for an equivalent of 5,700 person-years lost annually. The second objective addressed the problem of comparing safety program performance in mines for situations where denominator data were lacking. By examining the consequences of injuries, comparisons can be made between disparate operations without the need for denominators. Total risk in the form of lost workday sums can help to distinguish between lower- and higher-risk operations or time periods. METHOD: Our method was to use a beta distribution to model the losses and to compare underground coal mining to underground metal/nonmetal mining from 2000 to 2004. RESULTS: Our results showed the probability of an injury having 10 or more lost workdays was 0.52 for coal mine cases versus 0.35 for metal/nonmetal mine cases. In addition, a comparison of injuries involving continuous mining machines over 2001-2002 versus 2003-2004 showed that the ratio of average losses in the later period to those in the earlier period was approximately 1.08, suggesting increasing risks for such operations. DISCUSSION: This denominator-free safety measure will help the mining industry more effectively identify higher-risk operations and more realistically evaluate their safety improvement programs. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Attention to a variety of metrics concerning the performance of a job safety and health program will enhance industry's ability to manage these programs and reduce risk.     

Factors contributing to US chemical plant process safety incidents from 2010 to 2020

Process safety incidents can result in injuries, fatalities, environmental impacts, facility damage, downtime & lost production, as well as impacts on a company's and industry's reputation. This study is focused on an analysis of the most commonly reported contributing factors to process safety incidents in the US chemical manufacturing industry. The database for the study contained 79 incidents from 2010 to 2019, partly investigated by the Chemical Safety Board (CSB). To be included in the study, the CSB archive of incident investigations were parsed to include only incidents which occurred at a company classified as 325 in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), assigned to businesses that participate in chemical manufacturing. For each incident, all of the identified contributing factors were catalogued in the database. From this list of identified contributing factors, it was possible to name the ‘top three’ contributing factors. The top three contributing factors cited for the chemical manufacturing industry were found to be: design; preventive maintenance; and safeguards, controls & layers of protection. The relationship between these top contributing factors and the most common OSHA citations was investigated as well. The investigation and citation history for NAICS 325 companies in the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) citations database was then analysed to assess whether there was any overlap between the top reported contributing factors to process safety events and the top OSHA citations recorded for the industry. A database consisting of the inspection and citation history for the chemical manufacturing industry identified by NAICS code 325 was assembled for inspections occurring between 2010 and 2020 (August). The analysis of the citation history for the chemical manufacturing industry specifically, identified that the list of the top contributing factors to process safety incidents overlapped with the most common OSHA violations. This finding is relevant to industry stakeholders who are considering how to strategically invest resources for achieving maximum benefit – reducing process safety risk and simultaneously improving OSHA citation history.     

小煤矿安全评价问题的探讨

煤矿安全评价是辨识和消除煤矿生产系统危险的重要方法,是实现煤矿安全生产的重要手段和基本程序,对煤矿企业的安全生产和安全管理有重要的作用.在简要论述煤矿安全评价的目的和意义的基础上,结合当前小煤矿的安全现状,分析了影响小煤矿安全生产的主要因素,并提出相应的解决对策.     

基于矿山安全专家系统安全信息采集及特征研究

把人工智能专家系统应用到矿山安全领域,模拟专家的经验评估安全生产环境,实现矿山最大安全化管理。安全专家系统的人机界面是系统与用户沟通的桥梁。友好的人机界面信息采集,既可以提高使用者的工作效率,也可以提高输出结构的准确性。针对安全专家系统在金属非金属矿山研究较少的特点,从系统安全工程相关原理出发,引入了人工智能安全专家系统,并从总图布置单元、开拓单元、采掘单元、提升运输单元、供电通讯单元、通风单元六个方面,探讨了界面信息采集的有关理论。根据给出的人机界面信息采集流程,得到了能够最大程度表征矿山安全的信息。为专家系统推理机后续的推理工作提供了一条有效的途径,最终实现人-机交互过程智能化的目的。