AN ANALYSIS OF FATAL INCIDENTS IN METAL AND NON-METAL MINES FROM 2002- 2006
Open Access
- Author:
- Mohd Ismail, Mohd Nasir
- Graduate Program:
- Petroleum and Mineral Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- November 06, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Joel B Haight, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Joel B Haight, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dr Larry Grayson, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mark C Radomsky, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- incident rates
aging workers - Abstract:
- This study was conducted to analyze the relationships of various demographic metrics associated with fatal accidents in metal and non-metal mines between 2002 and 2006 in the United States of America. Two demographic factors – 1) age of the miner, 2) job experience and the mine size are investigated .ANOVA was used to analyze the statistical relationships between these factors and the fatal accidents. The analysis showed that workers who were involved in the fatal accidents were more likely to be young ( 17-24 years old and have experience less than 1 year or older workers (those above the age of 55) who have more than 15 years of experience. Most fatalities came from mines with less than 50 employees. By using the current population survey (CPS) provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), the fatalities per 100,000 workers were also calculated. Workers between the ages of 17 and 24 had the highest rate of fatalities per 100,000 workers (47.37), followed by workers over the age of 55 (32.38 fatalities per 100,000 workers). For the risk index, workers between the ages of 17 and 24 had a risk index of 1.92. The risk index indicates that workers in this age group had higher risk to be involved in fatalities than any other age groups. Workers over the age of 55 had the second highest risk index (1.33) which also indicates high risk. The largest MSHA Accident Classification for death in metal and non-metal mines was powered haulage, followed by machinery, fall of material and fall of person. Aging workers and those workers with less than 5 years of experience represented the largest percentage of fatalities involving powered haulage. Workers working in small mines (1-50 employees) have higher risk for death than workers in medium-size mines (51-100 employees) and large mines (more than 100 employees) except for the case of falling person in which most of the deaths came from the large mines (59% of the total deaths).