This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
ISHN logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
ISHN logo
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Editions
    • Archives
    • Buyer's Guide
    • Subscribe
  • Topics
    • Environment
    • Environmental Health and Safety
    • Government Regulations
    • Health
    • Industrial Hygiene
    • Occupational Safety
    • PPE
    • Product Case Studies
    • Psychology
    • Safety Culture
    • Training
    • Transportation Safety
    • More Topics
  • Construction
  • Oil & Gas
  • Columns
    • Editorial Comments
    • Best Practices
    • Positive Cultures
    • Training Strategies
    • Closing Time
    • FR Protection
    • Thought Leadership
  • Products
  • Conventions
    • Convention Companion
  • Multimedia
    • eBooks
    • Infographics
    • Photo Galleries
    • ISHN Podcasts
    • Your Digital Mentor Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • ISHN YouTube Videos
  • More
    • Awards
      • 2020 Readers' Choice Awards- Submit Products
    • eNewsletters
    • Events
    • ISHN Store
    • Product Case Studies
    • Product Innovations
    • Showrooms
    • Vendor News
  • Advertise
    • Contact
Home » Mining & electricity: A deadly combo
Facility Safety

Mining & electricity: A deadly combo

ISHN0517_F3_pic.jpg
May 1, 2017
Maureen Paraventi
KEYWORDS electrical safety / electrocution fatalities / electrocution hazards / mining hazards / mining industry safety
Reprints

What is the first category that comes to mind when you think about the hazards that miners face? Chances are it’s not electrical, yet electrical accidents are the leading cause of mining fatalities, responsible for more than six percent of all mining industry deaths between 2000 and 2009.1

Highest injury rate underground

Mining, in fact, is far more dangerous in terms of electrical hazards than most other industries in the U.S., with a 2000-2009 electrical fatality rate approximately 8 to12 times the rate for all U.S. industries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Coal mining has higher electrical injury rates than noncoal mining and underground operations result in more electrical injuries than surface operations.2 Non-contact electrical burns due to arc flash events comprise the largest single category of electrical injuries.

Electrical injuries in mining are disproportionately deadly. During the same time period cited above, there was one fatality for every 22 electrical-related injuries, compared with an average of one fatality for every 203 injuries for all other injury types in mining.1

Studying the problem

In order to identify the main causes of electrical injuries in mining – and develop ways to address them -- the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) studied data on mining industry electrical injuries reported to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for the years 2000 to 2009.

The OMSHR took a close look at eight-hundred sixty-five electrical injuries that occurred during that period (39 of them resulting in fatalities). In an article2 on the study, authors GT Homce and JC Cawley noted that 69 percent of the electrical injuries and 69 percent of the fatal electrical injuries occurred during machine maintenance or repair activities. In the majority of these cases (21 of 27), the failure to de-energize, lock-out and tag the circuit was either the cause or a contributing factor.

Who is it that is being injured by electrical hazards in mining operations? Electricians and mechanics were injured in 42 percent of the incidents studied. Also of note: contractor employees had a much greater chance of an electrical injury being fatal than did mine operator employees.

The investigators identified the top three root causes for fatal electrical injuries as:

  1. No or inadequate lock-out and tagging 
  2. Failure of power system components
  3. Contact of overhead electrical power lines by mobile equipment.

What is OMSHR doing about the danger?

Through the OMSHR, NIOSH has conducted studies – many of them in the Mine Electrical Laboratory – that have focused on power system design, engineering controls, work organization and procedures, protective equipment, and human factors.

Research findings have included methods for: avoiding electrical cable hazards; improving power system grounding; preventing electrical ignitions which could lead to fires and explosions; improving overhead electrical power line safety and mitigating arc flash hazards.

Going forward, OMSHR plans to continue to address existing electrical hazards as well as those that may arise from new technology, such as shock and burn hazards associated with switching equipment and cables, improved training, battery safety, and equipment permissibility.

And of course, educating workers about hazards plays a key role in keeping them safe. To that end, NIOSH has made available a discussion guide and an arc flash awareness video3 that includes the harrowing tales of workers who experienced – and survived – the perilous electrical events.

  1. www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/topics/ElectricalAccidents.html
  2. www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/works/coversheet1924.html
  3. www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/works/coversheet1839.html

Subscribe to ISHN Magazine

Recent Articles by Maureen Paraventi

Hearing Protection Fit Testing: How NIOSH revolutionized practices

OSHA spells out FR protection specifics

50th anniversary of fatal train crash – and PTC still elusive

Great potential to reduce exposures and injuries, but there are concerns

How to lower your stroke risk

Paraventi1
Maureen Paraventi is Web Editor of ISHN.

Related Articles

MSHA, engineering firm reach settlement in deadly 2007 Utah mine collapse

ESFI draws lessons from a deadly house fire

Subscribe For Free!
  • Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • ISHN eNewsletter & Other eNews Alerts
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

Today's News

2 young part-time UPS workers killed in California

Today's News

Steel worker injured at Indiana plant

Tesla

Report finds worker injuries are “routine” at Tesla’s Nevada plant

crystal ball

Safety and health trends for 2020

Lendlease

Humorous workplace safety campaign features mothers

ISHN Readers' Choice Awards 2020 product submissions


Events

March 7, 2019

Safety and Wellness: The Combination that Drives Engagement and Profitability

On Demand Attend this webinar for the keys to success, as well as mistakes to avoid, when targeting safety and wellness with a Recognition & Reward Program.

View All Submit An Event

ISHN Podcasts


ISHN Podcasts

ISHN Magazine

ISHN1219_cover.jpg

2019 December

Among the articles in the December 2019 issue of ISHN Magazine, we have expert insight on selecting the right respirator, a link to the 2020 Buyers’ & Resource Guide, 10 safety mistakes that can land you in a courtroom, and much more.
View More Create Account
  • Resources
    • List Rental
    • Safety A-Z
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • Market Research
    • Web Exclusives
    • Privacy Policy
  • Want More
    • Connect
    • Subscribe
    • Survey And Sample

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing