Apurna Kumar Ghosh | Curtin University, Wasm (original) (raw)

Papers by Apurna Kumar Ghosh

Research paper thumbnail of Relationship of iron ore price with other major commodity prices

Mineral Economics, 2022

Understanding the interdependency of commodity market pricing system is very important for runnin... more Understanding the interdependency of commodity market pricing system is very important for running a successful mining business. Much of the iron ore price is derived from the prices of other commodities. This study investigates the relationship between monthly iron ore prices against 12 other monthly commodity prices or indices including LNG, aluminium, nickel, silver, Australian coal, zinc, gold, oil, tin, copper, lead, and Commodity Price Index (Metals) in both bivariate and multivariate perspectives. An augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test is carried out to ensure that all the time series commodity prices and index are non-stationary. In multivariate modelling co-integration tests, observation is made on how many co-integrations exist out of 12 co-integrations for each respective lag between 0 and 45 months’ period. It is observed that 6 out of 12 commodity prices follow co-integrations in 1-month lag and continues in a cyclic pattern until 27 months after which it disappears. The...

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Job and Some Individual Characteristics to Occupational Injuries in Employed People: A Community-Based Study

Journal of Occupational Health, 2003

Benamghar, et al.. Relationships of job and some individual characteristics to occupational injur... more Benamghar, et al.. Relationships of job and some individual characteristics to occupational injuries in employed people: a community-based study..

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of physical job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries in coal miners

Industrial Health, 2007

This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuri... more This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0-1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27-3.86 for JT 2-6 and 3.82, 2.14-6.82 for JT≥7), and significant ORs≥1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures.

Research paper thumbnail of Comparison of parameters for likelihood and severities of injuries in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

Comparison of parameters for likelihood and severities of injuries in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

Safety Science

Research paper thumbnail of Using seasonal temperature difference in underground surrounding rocks to cooling ventilation airflow: A conceptual model and simulation study

Energy Science & Engineering

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Factors for the Number of Sustained Injuries in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Operation

Risk Factors for the Number of Sustained Injuries in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Operation

Safety and Health at Work

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the coal dust suppression efficiency of different surfactants: A factorial experiment

Evaluation of the coal dust suppression efficiency of different surfactants: A factorial experiment

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects

Research paper thumbnail of Numerical study of coal dust behaviours and experimental investigation on coal dust suppression efficiency of surfactant solution by using wind tunnel tests

Numerical study of coal dust behaviours and experimental investigation on coal dust suppression efficiency of surfactant solution by using wind tunnel tests

Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects

Research paper thumbnail of Economic and social challenges faced by injured artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Kenya

Economic and social challenges faced by injured artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Kenya

Safety Science

Research paper thumbnail of Explosion risk assessment model for underground mine atmosphere

Journal of Fire Sciences

In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or m... more In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or mine rescues members. Hence, the determination of the explosibility is critical for mine rescues or controlling the severity of a mine accident, especially for a gas explosion event. However, most current methods although can identify the explosibility, but it lacks in identifying the risk trend. On the other hand, the composition in an underground sealed atmosphere is complicated and also is dynamically changed due to various external or internal influence factors. Although knowing the atmospheric status is always a tedious problem for mining engineers, related analyzing methods are still urgently desired. In order to improve the mine safety, this paper is going to address the abovementioned problems. Based on the characteristics of the Coward explosibility diagram, several quantitative mathematical analyzing models are proposed to address following problems: 1) for a "not-explosive" atmosphere, judging the trend of explosion risk and estimating the state changing time span from 2 "not-explosive" to "explosive"; 2) for an "explosive" atmosphere, estimating the "critical" time span of moving out of explosive state and putting forward mitigation strategy. Such research efforts will not only help the mine operators understand the explosibility risk of a sealed mine atmosphere, but also provide a useful tool to wisely control such atmosphere away from . In order to demonstrate the research findings, case demonstrations for derived models are also shown and can be used to instruct readers how to apply them. The results provide useful information for effectively controlling an explosive underground sealed atmosphere.

Research paper thumbnail of Predictors of occupational injuries among coal miners:a causal analysis

Predictors of occupational injuries among coal miners:a causal analysis

Safety and Reliability, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Loglinear model for assessment of risk factors of occupational injuries in underground coal mines

Journal of Geology and Mining Research, Apr 1, 2009

In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in ... more In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in coal mine injuries. Data on the varieties namely age, safety performance, working condition, safety environment, management and supervision, emotional stability, job involvement, job satisfaction, and job stress have been collected through questionnaire survey. The associations of the risk factors with occupational injuries are assessed through adjusted odds ratios (OR). The case study results reveal that significant contributing factors responsible for injuries are emotional stability (OR 2.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-3.67), working condition (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.37-3.35), safety performance (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.30-3.17), safety environment (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.25-3.06), and age with two ORs of 1.84 (95% CI 1.04 to 3.28), and 2.38 (95% CI 1.27 to 4.45). Identification of these risk factors of injuries will provide valuable information in injury preventive programs.

Research paper thumbnail of CFD modelling of ventilation optimization for improving mine safety in longwall working faces

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2016

Mining coal seams with high coal gas content and coal spontaneous combustion (SponCom) risk is of... more Mining coal seams with high coal gas content and coal spontaneous combustion (SponCom) risk is often a challenge for mining engineers. Control measures for maintaining the gas concentration under the regulation permissible limit (Generally 1%) as well as reducing coal fire risks must be taken simultaneously in order to create safety production conditions. However, in reality, such measures either for gas or for fire problems are sometimes conflictive. For an example, the basic strategy of gas control in underground is to increase the ventilation airflow for sweeping the longwall working face and diluting the gas concentration, but it also results in leakage of an amount of air into the mine gob area sufficient to supportthe coal SponCom development process.

Research paper thumbnail of Evolution of underground coal mine explosion law in Australia, 1887-2007

xplosions have always been a global life-threatening issue for the coal mining industry. An explo... more xplosions have always been a global life-threatening issue for the coal mining industry. An explosion is a rapid expansion of gases resulting from a chemical or physical reaction that produces pressure waves. 1 Rapid gas expansion may occur due to the fast combustion of methane gas/air mixture, or coal dust particle/air mixture in a confined space. Igniting explosive mixtures can occur by various means including a naked flame; friction, hot surfaces, or an electrostatic discharge. Coalmine gas is usually composed of methane (CH 4) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) and is produced with water during the alteration of ancient vegetation into coal. Methane explosions occur in mines when a build-up of methane gas comes into contact with a heat source and there is insufficient ventilation available to dilute the gas to a level below its explosion point. 2 The methane/air mixture becomes explosive within a range of 5.4-14.8 per cent methane and the most dangerous concentration appears when the met...

Research paper thumbnail of Associations of safety environment, training, and individual characteristics with occupational injuries: a case-control study

Associations of safety environment, training, and individual characteristics with occupational injuries: a case-control study

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

ASSOCIATIONS OF SAFETY ENVIRONMENT, TRAINING, AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS WITH OCCUPATIONAL IN... more ASSOCIATIONS OF SAFETY ENVIRONMENT, TRAINING, AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS WITH OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY Ashis Bhattacherjee1, Apurna Kumar Ghosh2, and Nearkasen Chau3 1Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; 2National institute of Technology, Rourkela, India; 3National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Unit 420, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France Introduction: Work conditions and individual characteristics can influence occupational injuries. This study assessed the relationships of age, poor safety environment, risk taking behaviour, emotional instability, job stress, job dissatisfaction, poor safety performance of the worker, low level of education, big family size, high income group and low level of safety training with occupational injuries in underground coal miners. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 202 coal miners with at least one occupational injury and 202 controls with no occupational injury during a five-year period. The ...

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Assessment of Occupational Injuroes in Underground Coal Mines

Journal of Mines, Metals and Fuels

Safety is paramount in the underground mining environment. The mining industry has for many years... more Safety is paramount in the underground mining environment. The mining industry has for many years focused on injury prevention at the workplace through procedures and training, and has achieved considerable success. However, the statistics on major accident events and reportable incidents has not shown the corresponding levels of improvement. In the area of major hazards control, the mining industry approach has emphasized mainly on past experiences and lessons learnt. Preventive measures cannot be taken until the causes or sources of accidents are known. Risk management takes care of identifying the sources of accidents. The concept of risk management has come up as an effective tool of accident prevention in mining industry. The objectives of the work are estimation of the risks of different types of job and taking the preventive measures based on the results. Meeting the most recent state-of-the-art safety analysis offers the opportunity to improve product design, reduce accident...

Research paper thumbnail of Loglinear model for assessment of risk factors of occupational injuries in underground coal mines

Journal of Geology and Mining …, 2009

In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in ... more In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in coal mine injuries. Data on the varieties namely age, safety performance, working condition, safety environment, management and supervision, emotional stability, job involvement, ...

Research paper thumbnail of Explosion risk assessment model for underground mine atmosphere

Journal of Fire Sciences

In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or m... more In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or mine rescues members. Hence, the determination of the explosibility is critical for mine rescues or controlling the severity of a mine accident, especially for a gas explosion event. However, most current methods although can identify the explosibility, but it lacks in identifying the risk trend. On the other hand, the composition in an underground sealed atmosphere is complicated and also is dynamically changed due to various external or internal influence factors. Although knowing the atmospheric status is always a tedious problem for mining engineers, related analyzing methods are still urgently desired. In order to improve the mine safety, this paper is going to address the abovementioned problems. Based on the characteristics of the Coward explosibility diagram, several quantitative mathematical analyzing models are proposed to address following problems: 1) for a "not-explosive" atmosphere, judging the trend of explosion risk and estimating the state changing time span from 2 "not-explosive" to "explosive"; 2) for an "explosive" atmosphere, estimating the "critical" time span of moving out of explosive state and putting forward mitigation strategy. Such research efforts will not only help the mine operators understand the explosibility risk of a sealed mine atmosphere, but also provide a useful tool to wisely control such atmosphere away from . In order to demonstrate the research findings, case demonstrations for derived models are also shown and can be used to instruct readers how to apply them. The results provide useful information for effectively controlling an explosive underground sealed atmosphere.

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Job and Some Individual Characteristics to Occupational Injuries in Employed People: A Community-Based Study

Journal of Occupational Health, 2003

Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India-This study assessed the association... more Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India-This study assessed the associations of job and some individual factors with occupational injuries among employed people from a general population in north-eastern France; 2,562 workers were randomly selected from the working population. A mailed auto-questionnaire was filled in by each subject. Statistical analysis was performed with loglinear models. The annual incidence rate of at least one occupational injury was 4.45%. Significant contributing factors for occupational injuries were job category (60.8%), sex (16.2%), regular psychotropic drug use (8.5%), age groups (7.5%), and presence of a disease (7.0%). The men had higher risk than the women (adjusted odds-ratio 1.99, 95% CI 1.43-2.78). Compared to executives, intellectual professionals and teachers, labourers had the highest risk (6.40, 3.55-11.52). They were followed by farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen (6.18, 2.86-13.08), technicians (3.14, 1.41-6.70), employees (2.94, 1.59-5.48) and other subjects (3.87, 1.90-7.88). The young (≤29 yr) showed an increased risk. Similar odds-ratios were observed for regular psychotropic drug use (1.54, 1.16-2.05) and the presence of a disease (1.50, 1.11-2.02). Univariate analysis showed that smoking habit, overweight and excess alcohol use were also associated with injuries. The loglinear model results showed that there were associations between some of these independent factors. It was concluded that job, sex, young age, smoking habit, excess alcohol use, overweight, psychotropic drug use, and disease influenced the occupational injuries. Preventive measures concerning work conditions, risk assessment and job knowledge should be conducted in overall active population, especially in men, young workers, smokers, alcohol users, overweight workers and in individuals with a disease or psychosomatic disorders. (J Occup Health 2003; 45: 382-391)

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Physical Job Tasks and Living Conditions with Occupational Injuries in Coal Miners

Industrial Health, 2007

This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuri... more This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0-1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27-3.86 for JT 2-6 and 3.82, 2.14-6.82 for JT≥7), and significant ORs≥1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures.

Research paper thumbnail of Relationship of iron ore price with other major commodity prices

Mineral Economics, 2022

Understanding the interdependency of commodity market pricing system is very important for runnin... more Understanding the interdependency of commodity market pricing system is very important for running a successful mining business. Much of the iron ore price is derived from the prices of other commodities. This study investigates the relationship between monthly iron ore prices against 12 other monthly commodity prices or indices including LNG, aluminium, nickel, silver, Australian coal, zinc, gold, oil, tin, copper, lead, and Commodity Price Index (Metals) in both bivariate and multivariate perspectives. An augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test is carried out to ensure that all the time series commodity prices and index are non-stationary. In multivariate modelling co-integration tests, observation is made on how many co-integrations exist out of 12 co-integrations for each respective lag between 0 and 45 months’ period. It is observed that 6 out of 12 commodity prices follow co-integrations in 1-month lag and continues in a cyclic pattern until 27 months after which it disappears. The...

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Job and Some Individual Characteristics to Occupational Injuries in Employed People: A Community-Based Study

Journal of Occupational Health, 2003

Benamghar, et al.. Relationships of job and some individual characteristics to occupational injur... more Benamghar, et al.. Relationships of job and some individual characteristics to occupational injuries in employed people: a community-based study..

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of physical job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries in coal miners

Industrial Health, 2007

This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuri... more This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0-1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27-3.86 for JT 2-6 and 3.82, 2.14-6.82 for JT≥7), and significant ORs≥1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures.

Research paper thumbnail of Comparison of parameters for likelihood and severities of injuries in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

Comparison of parameters for likelihood and severities of injuries in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

Safety Science

Research paper thumbnail of Using seasonal temperature difference in underground surrounding rocks to cooling ventilation airflow: A conceptual model and simulation study

Energy Science & Engineering

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Factors for the Number of Sustained Injuries in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Operation

Risk Factors for the Number of Sustained Injuries in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Operation

Safety and Health at Work

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the coal dust suppression efficiency of different surfactants: A factorial experiment

Evaluation of the coal dust suppression efficiency of different surfactants: A factorial experiment

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects

Research paper thumbnail of Numerical study of coal dust behaviours and experimental investigation on coal dust suppression efficiency of surfactant solution by using wind tunnel tests

Numerical study of coal dust behaviours and experimental investigation on coal dust suppression efficiency of surfactant solution by using wind tunnel tests

Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects

Research paper thumbnail of Economic and social challenges faced by injured artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Kenya

Economic and social challenges faced by injured artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Kenya

Safety Science

Research paper thumbnail of Explosion risk assessment model for underground mine atmosphere

Journal of Fire Sciences

In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or m... more In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or mine rescues members. Hence, the determination of the explosibility is critical for mine rescues or controlling the severity of a mine accident, especially for a gas explosion event. However, most current methods although can identify the explosibility, but it lacks in identifying the risk trend. On the other hand, the composition in an underground sealed atmosphere is complicated and also is dynamically changed due to various external or internal influence factors. Although knowing the atmospheric status is always a tedious problem for mining engineers, related analyzing methods are still urgently desired. In order to improve the mine safety, this paper is going to address the abovementioned problems. Based on the characteristics of the Coward explosibility diagram, several quantitative mathematical analyzing models are proposed to address following problems: 1) for a "not-explosive" atmosphere, judging the trend of explosion risk and estimating the state changing time span from 2 "not-explosive" to "explosive"; 2) for an "explosive" atmosphere, estimating the "critical" time span of moving out of explosive state and putting forward mitigation strategy. Such research efforts will not only help the mine operators understand the explosibility risk of a sealed mine atmosphere, but also provide a useful tool to wisely control such atmosphere away from . In order to demonstrate the research findings, case demonstrations for derived models are also shown and can be used to instruct readers how to apply them. The results provide useful information for effectively controlling an explosive underground sealed atmosphere.

Research paper thumbnail of Predictors of occupational injuries among coal miners:a causal analysis

Predictors of occupational injuries among coal miners:a causal analysis

Safety and Reliability, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Loglinear model for assessment of risk factors of occupational injuries in underground coal mines

Journal of Geology and Mining Research, Apr 1, 2009

In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in ... more In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in coal mine injuries. Data on the varieties namely age, safety performance, working condition, safety environment, management and supervision, emotional stability, job involvement, job satisfaction, and job stress have been collected through questionnaire survey. The associations of the risk factors with occupational injuries are assessed through adjusted odds ratios (OR). The case study results reveal that significant contributing factors responsible for injuries are emotional stability (OR 2.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-3.67), working condition (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.37-3.35), safety performance (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.30-3.17), safety environment (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.25-3.06), and age with two ORs of 1.84 (95% CI 1.04 to 3.28), and 2.38 (95% CI 1.27 to 4.45). Identification of these risk factors of injuries will provide valuable information in injury preventive programs.

Research paper thumbnail of CFD modelling of ventilation optimization for improving mine safety in longwall working faces

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2016

Mining coal seams with high coal gas content and coal spontaneous combustion (SponCom) risk is of... more Mining coal seams with high coal gas content and coal spontaneous combustion (SponCom) risk is often a challenge for mining engineers. Control measures for maintaining the gas concentration under the regulation permissible limit (Generally 1%) as well as reducing coal fire risks must be taken simultaneously in order to create safety production conditions. However, in reality, such measures either for gas or for fire problems are sometimes conflictive. For an example, the basic strategy of gas control in underground is to increase the ventilation airflow for sweeping the longwall working face and diluting the gas concentration, but it also results in leakage of an amount of air into the mine gob area sufficient to supportthe coal SponCom development process.

Research paper thumbnail of Evolution of underground coal mine explosion law in Australia, 1887-2007

xplosions have always been a global life-threatening issue for the coal mining industry. An explo... more xplosions have always been a global life-threatening issue for the coal mining industry. An explosion is a rapid expansion of gases resulting from a chemical or physical reaction that produces pressure waves. 1 Rapid gas expansion may occur due to the fast combustion of methane gas/air mixture, or coal dust particle/air mixture in a confined space. Igniting explosive mixtures can occur by various means including a naked flame; friction, hot surfaces, or an electrostatic discharge. Coalmine gas is usually composed of methane (CH 4) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) and is produced with water during the alteration of ancient vegetation into coal. Methane explosions occur in mines when a build-up of methane gas comes into contact with a heat source and there is insufficient ventilation available to dilute the gas to a level below its explosion point. 2 The methane/air mixture becomes explosive within a range of 5.4-14.8 per cent methane and the most dangerous concentration appears when the met...

Research paper thumbnail of Associations of safety environment, training, and individual characteristics with occupational injuries: a case-control study

Associations of safety environment, training, and individual characteristics with occupational injuries: a case-control study

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

ASSOCIATIONS OF SAFETY ENVIRONMENT, TRAINING, AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS WITH OCCUPATIONAL IN... more ASSOCIATIONS OF SAFETY ENVIRONMENT, TRAINING, AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS WITH OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY Ashis Bhattacherjee1, Apurna Kumar Ghosh2, and Nearkasen Chau3 1Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; 2National institute of Technology, Rourkela, India; 3National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Unit 420, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France Introduction: Work conditions and individual characteristics can influence occupational injuries. This study assessed the relationships of age, poor safety environment, risk taking behaviour, emotional instability, job stress, job dissatisfaction, poor safety performance of the worker, low level of education, big family size, high income group and low level of safety training with occupational injuries in underground coal miners. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 202 coal miners with at least one occupational injury and 202 controls with no occupational injury during a five-year period. The ...

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Assessment of Occupational Injuroes in Underground Coal Mines

Journal of Mines, Metals and Fuels

Safety is paramount in the underground mining environment. The mining industry has for many years... more Safety is paramount in the underground mining environment. The mining industry has for many years focused on injury prevention at the workplace through procedures and training, and has achieved considerable success. However, the statistics on major accident events and reportable incidents has not shown the corresponding levels of improvement. In the area of major hazards control, the mining industry approach has emphasized mainly on past experiences and lessons learnt. Preventive measures cannot be taken until the causes or sources of accidents are known. Risk management takes care of identifying the sources of accidents. The concept of risk management has come up as an effective tool of accident prevention in mining industry. The objectives of the work are estimation of the risks of different types of job and taking the preventive measures based on the results. Meeting the most recent state-of-the-art safety analysis offers the opportunity to improve product design, reduce accident...

Research paper thumbnail of Loglinear model for assessment of risk factors of occupational injuries in underground coal mines

Journal of Geology and Mining …, 2009

In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in ... more In this study a loglinear model has been investigated to evaluate the role of various factors in coal mine injuries. Data on the varieties namely age, safety performance, working condition, safety environment, management and supervision, emotional stability, job involvement, ...

Research paper thumbnail of Explosion risk assessment model for underground mine atmosphere

Journal of Fire Sciences

In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or m... more In coal mining industry, explosions or mine fires present the safety threats for coal miners or mine rescues members. Hence, the determination of the explosibility is critical for mine rescues or controlling the severity of a mine accident, especially for a gas explosion event. However, most current methods although can identify the explosibility, but it lacks in identifying the risk trend. On the other hand, the composition in an underground sealed atmosphere is complicated and also is dynamically changed due to various external or internal influence factors. Although knowing the atmospheric status is always a tedious problem for mining engineers, related analyzing methods are still urgently desired. In order to improve the mine safety, this paper is going to address the abovementioned problems. Based on the characteristics of the Coward explosibility diagram, several quantitative mathematical analyzing models are proposed to address following problems: 1) for a "not-explosive" atmosphere, judging the trend of explosion risk and estimating the state changing time span from 2 "not-explosive" to "explosive"; 2) for an "explosive" atmosphere, estimating the "critical" time span of moving out of explosive state and putting forward mitigation strategy. Such research efforts will not only help the mine operators understand the explosibility risk of a sealed mine atmosphere, but also provide a useful tool to wisely control such atmosphere away from . In order to demonstrate the research findings, case demonstrations for derived models are also shown and can be used to instruct readers how to apply them. The results provide useful information for effectively controlling an explosive underground sealed atmosphere.

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Job and Some Individual Characteristics to Occupational Injuries in Employed People: A Community-Based Study

Journal of Occupational Health, 2003

Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India-This study assessed the association... more Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India-This study assessed the associations of job and some individual factors with occupational injuries among employed people from a general population in north-eastern France; 2,562 workers were randomly selected from the working population. A mailed auto-questionnaire was filled in by each subject. Statistical analysis was performed with loglinear models. The annual incidence rate of at least one occupational injury was 4.45%. Significant contributing factors for occupational injuries were job category (60.8%), sex (16.2%), regular psychotropic drug use (8.5%), age groups (7.5%), and presence of a disease (7.0%). The men had higher risk than the women (adjusted odds-ratio 1.99, 95% CI 1.43-2.78). Compared to executives, intellectual professionals and teachers, labourers had the highest risk (6.40, 3.55-11.52). They were followed by farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen (6.18, 2.86-13.08), technicians (3.14, 1.41-6.70), employees (2.94, 1.59-5.48) and other subjects (3.87, 1.90-7.88). The young (≤29 yr) showed an increased risk. Similar odds-ratios were observed for regular psychotropic drug use (1.54, 1.16-2.05) and the presence of a disease (1.50, 1.11-2.02). Univariate analysis showed that smoking habit, overweight and excess alcohol use were also associated with injuries. The loglinear model results showed that there were associations between some of these independent factors. It was concluded that job, sex, young age, smoking habit, excess alcohol use, overweight, psychotropic drug use, and disease influenced the occupational injuries. Preventive measures concerning work conditions, risk assessment and job knowledge should be conducted in overall active population, especially in men, young workers, smokers, alcohol users, overweight workers and in individuals with a disease or psychosomatic disorders. (J Occup Health 2003; 45: 382-391)

Research paper thumbnail of Relationships of Physical Job Tasks and Living Conditions with Occupational Injuries in Coal Miners

Industrial Health, 2007

This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuri... more This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0-1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27-3.86 for JT 2-6 and 3.82, 2.14-6.82 for JT≥7), and significant ORs≥1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures.