Risk management: Adapting Riskgate for underground coal mines in the United States (original) (raw)
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RISKGATE and Underground Operations
PROCEEDINGS 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE, 2014
Australia has an enviable global reputation as a leader in health and safety outcomes in the hazardous industry of mining, in part due to an increased application of risk management regarding operational planning and mining practice. In 2010, the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) initiated a major project, RISKGATE, to build, capture and deliver a national body of knowledge to assist companies with the management of risk in coal mining. The online system contains information for tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives underground, explosives open cut, manual tasks, slips/trips/falls, outbursts, coal bumps and bursts, human–machine interface, tailings dams, occupational hygiene and inrush. In 2014, RISKGATE is developing content for fitness for work (fatigue, drugs, alcohol, physical well-being, psychosocial well-being). This paper analyses underground mining fatalities in Australia and the United States since 2002 and introduces RISKGATE with a focus on the knowledge base for management of hazards in underground operations. Through capturing coal industry expert operational knowledge, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover within the mining industry. This coal-based body of knowledge is a platform that can be evaluated and implemented for other mining domains and high-risk industries within the energy supply chain.
RISKGATE and Australian coal operations
Proceedings of the 2014 Coal Operators' Conference, 2014
The major Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) project, RISKGATE has now completed three years of knowledge capture and system development. The body of knowledge for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives underground, explosives open cut, manual tasks and slips/trips/falls was launched in December 2012. Recently, the project added knowledge about outbursts, coal bumps and bursts, human-machine interface, tailings dams, occupational hygiene and inrush to the original 11topics. In 2014, the project plans (pending ACARP funding approval) to focus on issues around Fitness for Work. RISKGATE provides an environment for knowledge capture and knowledge exchange to drive innovation and cross industry sharing of current practice in the identification, assessment and management of risk. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry. RISKGATE is the largest single ACARP Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) initiative to date. This paper presents an overview of the first seventeen topics, topic structures, and contrasts and inter-relationships between topics. The second part of the paper discusses some early steps that companies are taking to integrate RISKGATE into their operations; and conclude with some thoughts on where RISKGATE can go in the future.
Large-scale infrastructure construction needs to comprehensively manage risks that can impact the health and well-being of many people, from workers (temporary, contracted or full time), to families and surrounding communities. This paper starts with an analysis of incidents (injury, fatality, other damage) in tunnel construction between 2000 and 2014 and assesses the distribution of these events by continent, year, and severity of outcomes. These incidents are then analysed and mapped to a framework of hazards derived from RISKGATE (http://www.riskgate.org). A comparative register of current tunnel construction risk management guidance is derived from current Australian codes of practise and this register is also mapped to the RISKGATE framework of hazards to identify where coal industry knowledge may offer utility to the tunnelling industry. An initiative of the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), RISKGATE is an interactive online risk management system developed to assist the mining industry in implementing continual improvement in the management of major unwanted events. To date, a comprehensive knowledge base has been captured for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives, outbursts, coal bumps and bursts, human/machine interface, manual tasks, slips/trips/falls, inrush and occupational hygiene. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry. This paper proposes and outlines how knowledge within the RISKGATE platform could be applied to managing the significant health and safety risks associated with tunnelling. We suggest that to varying degrees the knowledge already captured in RISKGATE is likely to be transferable to tunnelling construction operations. Please note that this paper focuses on tunnel construction and does not address risk management of tunnels in operation (e.g. road transportation or utility networks).
Proceedings of the 23rd World Mining Congress, Montreal, Canada
RISKGATE is an interactive online risk management system developed by the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC; University of Queensland) to assist the mining industry in implementing continual improvement in management of major unwanted events so maximising health and safety performance. A comprehensive body of knowledge has been compiled from diverse mining industry experts for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives, manual tasks and slips/trips/falls. This paper presents an overview of the body of knowledge captured from diverse mining industry experts for management of unwanted strata incidents, and explosions in the underground environment. This knowledge is divided into a series of initiating events within both topics (as listed) with further degrees of classification based on design, operation, and management concerns. Strata Underground Initiating Events: Loss of strata control at longwall face Loss of strata control in outbye roadways Loss of strata control in roadways under development Loss of control of overburden and caving behaviour Loss of pillar system stability Loss of control of goaf edge in pillar extraction Loss of strata control in shafts Explosions Initiating Events Fire or ignition in a sealed area Fire or ignition in an unsealed goaf area Fire or ignition in an extraction face Fire or ignition in outbye Fire or ignition in development panel or first working The system guides to the user in generating substantive and leading edge controls to assist industry stakeholders in the design, management and reporting of organisational and regulatory compliance requirements. From a broader industry perspective, RISKGATE provides an environment for knowledge capture and knowledge exchange to drive innovation and best practice in the identification, assessment and management of risk. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry.