1306 Legislation in Indian Mines Safety, Health, and Sanitation in Mines 1307

prevention" rather than injury prevention. As a matter of fact, majority of 1. Geo-mining 'condition
accidents/incidents are precisely those which do not involve physical injury. 2. System parameters
Thus a better name for a safety officer .or safety manager might well 3 System of mining
be "Total Loss Control Manager". A Total Loss Control Manager tries to 4. Method of mining, system of mechanistation
examine everything in detail, not just the injury to persons, but also the
5. Stage of coal extraction
dOwn-time of the company, the plant damage caused, the near-misses, and
the resulting loss in real terms of profit and loss. A still better name has come 6. Age of the mine
from the U.S.A. as 'Risk and Safety Manager". The Risk and Safety 7. Location
Manager has to identify, measure, and control Risk, and eventually elimi- 8. Basic safety hardware and software
nate it, set proper safety standards, measure compliance to these standards,
9. Safety devices in production system
evaluate performance, and then rectify the sub-standard. For the purpose,
check-lists are used exensively, and every "happening" or "near-miss", 10. Safety devices in other sub-systems
together with injury and plant damage, is evaluated. 11. Roof support
12. Ventilation
Loss Control Program (US Practice) is discussed later in the chapter.
13. F i r e
Accident Vulnerability
14. Old workings
Vulnerability to accident of a mine is determined by the accident
potentiality level to which the mine belongs at a particular time. 15. Water body
Accident proneness of a mine is not the same as accident vulnera-
16. Re sc u e sta tio n
bility of a mine. Accident proneness of a mine is caused when the factors, GEO MINING CONDITION
-

which contribute to accident vulnerability are not checked, controlled or

Geo-mining condition, specific to the locale of a project/mine, plays
managed. While accident proneness may be the ultimate effect, vulnera-
a vital role in determining the accident vulnerability. Following sub-system
bility may be the cause to effect proneness. A mine, which has low
danger indicators are identified :
vulnerability score, may even become a highly accident prone mine,
whereas a mine, which has high vulnerability score, may be a low accident (a) Depth of the seam.
prone mine, if remedial measures to correct and manage the vulnerability (b) Thickness of the seam.
factor are implemented in time, and to full satisfaction. (c) T yp e o f co al.
The vulnerability concept may be applied, not only to the whole mine (d) Geological disturbances.
system, but also separately to the different individual units/sub-systems in (e) Type of immediate roof of the working seam.
a mine. For every district of a mine, the vulnerability may be determined,
(0 Dip of the seam.
and accordingly the relative degree of vulnerability for different districts of
a mine may be estimated. This helps in drawing a priority plan over the (g) Gassiness of the seam.
different working areas, and the optimisation of safety resources for (h) Multi seam occurrence and seam density.
achieving the maximum results.
Following basic assumptions are made with regard to the effect of
Following system danger indicators have been identified for assess- each of the above mentioned factors over the accident vulnerability of the
ing the accident vulnerability : mine :
1. Accident vulnerability increases as depth increases.