CAUSAL FACTORS OF COLLISION ACCIDENTS INVOLVING UNDERGROUND COAL MOBILE EQUIPMENT

From 2000–2015, thirty-two fatalities occurred due to collisions involving mobile equipment in underground coal mining in the United States. Studies have shown that proximity detection systems (PDS) can be a potential mitigation strategy for this type of accident. However, the effectiveness of this approach for mobile equipment has yet to be fully studied or validated. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) evaluated the causal factors of this type of fatality. Fatal accident reports from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) accident report database provided details to analyze and determine causal factors and to evaluate whether a PDS may have been a preventive factor in each accident. NIOSH researchers concluded that PDSs used in underground coal mines on mobile equipment which are designed to detect a miner, provide warning to the operator and other miners, and automatically stop the machine before a miner is hit may have helped to prevent 25 of the 32 or 78% of the accidents.