Looking for “TRAP”S on the job

1. Looking for “TRAP”S on the job “Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention”

2. 2002 FATALS States highlighted in yellow are states where fatals have been reported Number is Red indicate fatals reported in that state. WA VT ME MT ND MN NH OR WI ID NY MA SD WY 1 RI MI 3 CT PA IA 1 NJ NV NE OH 6 IN IL 4 DE UT 1 WV CO VA MD 9 KS CA KY MO NC TN AZ OK AR SC 1 NM 1 GA MS AL LA TX AK FL HI PR

3. TRAP Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention

4. TRAP • In an article titled “Fatal Accidents on the rise in 1997: A Cause for Concern” • Stated near misses need to be considered as warnings, they need to be analyzed, and used to prevent more serious accidents from occurring. • Near misses are incidents which usually indicate the presence of a hazard-or in other words as “traps”.

5. TRAP • A “TRAP” program is an employee-driven program of identifying, evaluating, and eliminating hazards in your workplace. • “TRAP” stands for “ Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention.” • It’s a program that involves both the miner and the manager.

6. Traps come and go in the workplace daily, depending on the work activities and the employees. • Some are simple, such as a cord stretched across a walkway, or more complex, such as a poorly designed set of controls on a mining machine.

7. 2002 FATALS 2002 FATALS NEW MEXICO Date of Accident: 4/26/2002 Age: 61 Job Title: Mechanic/Welder Mining Experience: 16 years Victim was fueling a Caterpillar D11 bulldozer in the pit of a surface coal mine. While fueling the bulldozer ,victim's service truck began to roll away, down a 6-8% grade toward a parked haul truck. The victim ran after the service truck, mounted the running board, and apparently slipped off and fell under the rear tandem wheels. The truck continued another 35 feet, struck the front of the haul truck, and stopped. The service truck traveled approximately 225 feet before hitting the haul truck. Wheel chocks were found at the site. They appeared to have been used, but did not prevent the truck from moving downhill.

9. BestPractices  Do not leave mobile equipment unattended unless the brakes are set.  When mobile equipment is left unattended on a grade, turn the wheels into a bank or berm, or properly block them.  During task training, emphasize proper methods of blocking the wheels of parked equipment.  Perform tasks such as refueling on level ground, whenever possible.

10. 2002 FATALS 2002 FATALS PENNSYLVANIA Date of Accident: 8/13/2002 Age66 Job Title: Highwall Drill Operator Mining Experience: __ year Victim was fatally injured when he fell twenty-three feet off the edge of a highwall. The victim was walking from his truck along the drill bench to his highwall drill in dark and foggy conditions when the accident occurred. The victim was able to call for help using a cell phone. The victim was rescued, however, he later expired as a result of injuries.

12. BestPractices  Provide and use appropriate lighting in work areas after dark.  Establish and use designated travelways to travel to and from work areas.  Always be aware of your surroundings and any hazards that may be present.

13. Given just the right combination of inattention, timing, and bad luck, a trap can spring its teeth with serious results. • What’s often discouraging is that, during many accident investigations, it is found that the hazard or trap had existed prior to the accident (even involved in a near miss) but went unreported and uncorrected.

14. The question is, “why did the trap remain until an accident happened?” • Lack of reporting near misses or existing traps is common in the mining industry.

15. COMMON REASONS GIVEN • Poor understanding of the importance of reporting • It’s someone else’s job-not the responsibility of the employee • Production pressures-don’t have time • Fear of discipline • Concern about personal accident history • Don’t want to get involved

16. COMMON REASON GIVEN: • Fear of medical treatment • Knock one out of the safety incentive program • Desire to prevent work interruption • Concern about relationship with others • Peer pressure • No system in place to report or collect near miss situations • No one cares

17. There are many other reasons employees don’t come forward with information concerning hazards or near-miss situations. • If only employees could understand that near miss situations present the best opportunity to get involved in accident prevention.

18. Near misses are free opportunities to identify, evaluate, and eliminate existing “traps” in the workplace. • Employees are in the best position to recommend solutions to the problems when identified. • They often know how to “fix” the situation, if asked to do so.

19. MSHA looks to management to provide a safe and healthful work environment for the miner. • But we should not forget that the Act intended for all employees to be involved and assist in making the workplace safer.

20. On the very first page of the Act, Section 2, Congress declared-”(e) the operators of such mines with the assistance of the miners have the primary responsibility to prevent the existence of such conditions and practices in such mines’ that would result in death or serious injury. • So the intent was that management would be assisted by the miners in providing as safe workplace.

21. The emphasis of this program is not on analyzing accidents which have already happened, but on capturing near-miss information or identifying existing traps which have not produced injury or lost time events. • That is not to say it is not important to properly analyze and correct reportable accidents.

23. This should always take place. • The purpose of this program is to encourage employees to report near-miss situations or existing “traps” along with helping management find reasonable and economical solutions to problems.

24. The key to the programs success is to get the miners involved. • This starts by addressing the barriers to reporting near-miss events and creating incentives for identifying “traps”. • Companies need to encourage employees to be “TRAP” hunters and find ways to dismantle any traps found.

25. Old incentive programs which reward employees for not having accidents must evolve into programs which reward employees for reporting near-misses and existing “traps” along with recommendations to eliminate the hazard. • “Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention” is a pro-active program.

26. Victim was standing in this area.

27. Trap involves the worker, the supervisor, management, and even MSHA. • It’s a goal to make the workplace safer for everyone.

28. When looking at the “traps” that are possible in the mining industry, we need to consider the near-miss incidents that occur. • We need to consider studies that have been done on this subject. • The basic premise of the studies are very much alive today when we consider injuries, incidents, and fatalities that occur in the mining industry.

29. One Study Results • 1-Major injuries • 10-Minor injuries • 30-Property damage accidents • 600-Incidents with no apparent injury/property damage

30. The 1-10-30-600 relationships in the ratio indicates quit clearly how foolish it is to direct our total effort at the relatively few events terminating in serious or disabling injury when there are 630 property damage or no loss incidents occurring that provided a much larger basis for more effective control of total accident losses.

31. Questions to consider? • What are common “traps” at your mining operations? • What methods are used to identified “traps” in the workplace? • Are you responsible for identifying and removing “traps”? • Do supervisors have responsibility to identify and correct “traps”?