Breakout Session Summary Mining Industry

1. Breakout Session SummaryMining Industry November 1-2, 2007

2. Mining Team Stephen Thompson Shiv Sinha Allen Christy Rick Marlowe Jim Angel Dan Della-Giustina

3. Overall Mining Industry Trends and Organizational Consistency with Trends • Better performers (low incident rate) are not immune to fatalities and the rate is not necessarily an indicator of potential fatality prevention • High quality safety programs may not provide protection against fatalities • Internationally – contractors have higher fatality rate • Domestically – employees have higher fatality rates • 2006 Data presented by MSHA shows mixed results between coal (employees higher) and metal/non metal (contractors higher) in domestic setting

4. Most Significant Organizational Weaknesses • Risk perception problems – perception that it can’t happen or it can’t happen to me – element of overconfidence • Lack of leadership skills among mining line organization (7 key element of leadership – vision, credibility, collaboration, communication, action oriented, feedback and recognition and accountability) • Lack of understanding of risks • Lack of formal risk assessment process • Business needs and competition push us to be too risk tolerant • Lack of understanding of human performance concepts and/or needs

5. Most Significant Organizational Weaknesses • Overextended equipment life • Non-standardized equipment • Lack of cohesiveness – Lack of organizational sharing of information • Non-standardized crew work practices • Lack of written standard procedures • Risks associated with work environment/condition changes are not recognized

6. Most Significant Contributing Causes • Lack of human resources to provide adequate training and to develop and maintain written procedures and a lack of trained H&S professionals • Lack of identification and control of the risk of fatality • Lack of hazard recognition training • Lack of well established safe work procedure for all tasks • High turnover rate - frequent new employees • Lack of established human performance principles • No industry safety equipment standards • Lack of use of current technology • Lack of perceived need to change

7. Solutions & Best Practices for Fatality Prevention • Written pre-job planning document used for every job – must include a risk assessment (IPDE) • Empower employees to do whatever it takes to do a job safely and then hold them accountable • Develop formalized leadership safety training program (should include a selection and promotion process for leaders) • Safety audits driven (led by) by the leadership • Incident investigation/root cause analysis programs and training • Develop strong safety culture and climate principles • Deployment of human performance principles (traps, triggers and tools) • Implement new employee screening processes – aptitude, physical capabilities, drug and alcohol, etc. • Implement wellness programs

8. Areas of Future Research • Determine the psychological relationship to risk-taking behavior (risk tolerance) • Explore technological improvements in mining equipment • Adult education/teaching technologies