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Safety News – Around the World – February 2014

WORLD MAP

1 UNITED STATES

A recent analysis of surveillance data collected by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration on 157,410 employees and contractors who worked at underground or surface mines between 1998 – 2007 has revealed that the likelihood of an incident resulting in a death, instead of an injury or near-miss, increased after eight hours in shifts beginning at 11pm.

The researchers said that, based on their findings, possible interventions may include work-hour restrictions, particularly for those working night shift.*

The Californian Air Resources Board and the Highway Patrol have acted to enforce the tough anti-air pollution laws in that State by giving heavy polluters in the trucking industry notice to clean up exhaust emissions or park their trucks.

Law makers have enacted a series of anti-pollution laws, one of them ruling that big rigs and heavy trucks can only deposit so much diesel soot in the air.**

* Source: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, November 2013

** Source: MARCSTA Monitor, November 2013

2 CANADA

According to a study published in August 2013 by the Occupational Cancer Research Centre in Canada, occupational cancer is now the leading cause of compensated work-related deaths in Canada, exceeding those from traumatic injuries and disorders.

Compensation for occupational cancer deaths in Canada has been on the rise in recent years, particularly in Ontario, where there are now more than two occupational cancer deaths for each traumatic injury death.

Nationwide, the high risk injuries were manufacturing, construction, mining and, more recently, government services (believed to be the result of an increase in the number of claims accepted for firefighters in Ontario).

Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

3 WEST AFRICA

14 workers were killed and 10 others were injured when an illegal gold mine collapsed in western Burkina Faso in December.

A large rock crushed and buried the 14 workers after dynamite was used to excavate an area inside an 80 metre deep mineshaft. It took rescuers 17 hours to recover the bodies.

The mine is located near the town of Bagassi, southwest of the capital Ouagadougou, and has been illegally mined for years while its Canadian-based owners, Roxgold, wait for mining permit approvals from the Burkina Government.

The Government has officially prohibited artisanal mining during the west season (June- September) however the ban is largely ignored in a country that has one of the lowest GDP per capita figures in the world: $1,400.

Source: Agence France Presse

4 SOUTH AFRICA

In September South Africa’s Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate announced that in 2012, the country registered the lowest number of mine-related fatalities on record.

According to the Inspectorate, 112 miners died in 2012 compared with 123 in 2011, and the number of fall-of-ground accidents were reduced to 26 from a previous 40.

Of the 112 mining fatalities last year, 51 were on the gold mines, 28 on platinum mines, and 11 on coal mines. The fatality rate per million hours worked, for all mines, dipped by 9.09% in 2012.

There were 1,478 injuries on gold mines, 1,360 on platinum mines, and 267 on coal mines.

In “disaster-type accidents” during the period under review, five mine workers died after being exposed to harmful smoke caused by the underground mine fire at Goldfields’ Driefontein Gold Mine in Gauteng.

Source: BD Live

5 TURKEY

300 coal miners in Turkey staged a protest against unsafe working conditions by barricading themselves inside a 170 metre deep mine in the province of Zonguldak.

The miners claimed they had been subject to psychological pressure for a year. They also claimed the main paths inside the mine collapsed six months previously and that doors were routinely locked.

The tipping point came when an ambulance arrived 35 minutes late after a worker suffered a heart attack at the mine.

Turkey has a grim history of coal mining deaths – a total of 2,554 miners died between 1991 and 2008.

Earlier this year a gas leak killed eight miners. In 2010, 30 miners died after an explosion trapped them 540 meters underground.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

6 INDIA

The Indian Government has issued “Safety is my Responsibility” cards to mine workers containing information on safety rules and regulations along with messages

encouraging workers to report unsafe working conditions and practices to senior supervisors.

Labour and Employment Minister, Sis Ram Ola, said the cards were aimed at addressing India’s poor mine safety record.

“The rapidly changing scenario of (the) mining industry the world over and specifically in India has introduced newer hazards and safety concerns at workplace, while the traditional hazards such as inundation, fire, dust, noise etc. in mines are yet to be fully controlled,” the Minister said.

“These hazards post new challenges for occupational safety and health professionals as well as mining technologies and will require comprehensive surveillance at workplaces and newer strategies for prevention of accidents in mines.”

Source: The Economic Times

7 CHINA

Seven miners were trapped and drowned after an underground coal mine flooded in China’s notorious Guizhou province in October.

26 miners managed to escape the deluge that happened at the Dachong Coal Mine near the town of Changtian.

Local media reports that several officials have been sacked or suspended from duty over the incident, including the head of the town’s branch of China’s Communist Party and the chief of the county’s work safety supervision bureau.

Earlier in the month four workers were killed in an explosion at the Zheyan Coal Mine in Gaoshi, also in the Guizhou Province. 45 miners managed to escape while the four deceased miners were trapped in the shaft.

Source: Business Standard

8 NEW ZEALAND

In November the New Zealand parliament passed new, tighter, legislation around mine safety regulations.

The new legislation is based on the 16 key recommendations from the 2010 Royal Commission into the 2010 Pike River mine disaster that killed 29 men in an underground explosion.

One of the biggest changes is the establishment of Worksafe New Zealand, a new independent government-funded agency that will be responsible for managing workplace safety legislation, regulation enforcement, education and other safety issues across the country. The new agency will take over these responsibilities from an assortment of government departments.

The new bill gives statutory powers to mining health and safety representatives and inspectors and a new incident controller position has been created to oversee and facilitate fast disaster response in the case of a major incident.

Source: www.3news.co.nz.

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