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Introduction of Innovative Equipment in Mining: Impact on Occupational Health and Safety

Over the past decades, we have witnessed a mining boom that has led businesses to venture into markets in which an increasing number of players are trying to differentiate themselves. As a result of this expansion, the mining industry now faces a serious shortage of qualified workers. Concurrent with this challenge are rising expectations of workers and society as a whole with regard to occupational health and safety (OHS).

In fact, occupational health and safety in mining has clearly improved in developed countries over the past twenty years, but accidents and illness still occur with unacceptable frequency. The arrival of new mining equipment, bigger, more powerful and complex and requiring a higher skill level appears also to increase certain specific risks of accident and work-related illness.

The objective of this paper was to examine the impact of new equipment on occupational health and safety in underground mining. The authors measured the impact of eight equipment introduction projects on OHS in a North-American underground goldmine, using frequency of injury as the performance indicator. Measurements were performed over the 12-month period following each technological introduction in order to eliminate potential biases due to variations between different periods of the year. The authors compared the OHS performance associated with each project to the corresponding performance recorded for the preceding 12-month period with the supplanted technology. The injury rate associated with eight equipment introduction projects was also examined.

The results showed clearly that the introduction of new equipment with technological innovations did not automatically reduce the injury rate. The new equipment might even generate a higher injury rate than the equipment it replaced. Ergonomic deficiencies were noted in some of the new equipment.

In summary, successful implementation of technological innovation requires more than just buying new equipment. It requires taking into account the environment in which the equipment will operate, the needs and characteristics of the operators involved, and also the expectations of the decision makers. Besides, the findings also show the importance of identifying the mechanisms and conditions that determine the frequency of injuries following the acquisition of innovative equipment as means of improving OHS in the mining sector.


Article by Bryan Boudreau-Trudel, et al, from Canada.

Full access: http://mrw.so/5piQQ9

Image by Pattys-photos, from Flickr-cc.

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