Mine Safety & Environmental Engineering
Part 1. Questions
1. Occupational health and safety is the primary factor that needs to be considered in the mining industry. Discuss this statement.
2. Define the following terms
-Hazard
-Accident
-Disaster
-Risk
-Hazards management
-Practicable
-Risk Assessment
-Risk Control
3. Define the following
-Exposure
-Probability
-Frequency
-Severity
-Risk
4. List the most important parameters used to describe dusts and the extent to which they are present in an atmosphere.
5. List and briefly describe the general preventative measures, which can be used to control or prevent exposure to high temperatures and humidity's.
6. What geotechnical risks exist in surface mines?
7. Describe the following and describe their applicability and any shortcomings: (40 marks)
-Failure mode and effect analysis.
-Failure mode and effect criticality analysis.
-Fault tree analysis.
-Event tree analysis.
-Hazard and operability studies.
-Machinery hazard identification.
-Potential human error identification.
8. For the following situations determine the effective noise level in dB(A)
(a)A rock drill produces a sound pressure level of 93 dB(A) in a heading. If two more drills were to operate in the heading what would be the expected noise level?
(b) Failure mode and effect criticality analysis
(c) Currently a conveyor operator works for a shift length of 8 hours and is sub- jected to a noise exposure of 80 dB(A) over the shift. If this worker works a double shift at his normal work station what will be his noise exposure for that day?
(d)A continuous miner operator sitting on the machine is exposed to a noise level of 93 dB(A) when sat 2m from the noise source. If this operation were to be made a line of site remote operation with the operator being an equivalent distance of 20m away from the noise source what would his noise exposure be?
(e) Determine the equivalent 8 hour noise exposure level for a worker exposed to an equivalent continuous sound pressure of 88dB(A) over a 12 hour shift?
9. Look at the Figure1and identify the potential hazards and describe some of the controls that can be put in place to reduce the hazards.
10. What factors lead to the development of the incident at Pike Creek 2345?
11. An analysis of air samples taken in a return airway indicates the following gas concentrations:
(a)Carbon dioxide: 0.4%. (b)Hydrogen Sulphide: 2 ppm. (c)Sulphur Dioxide: 1 ppm.
Determine the threshold limit values (Table1), TWA and STEL 6 for the mixture.
12. What is DPM? What are the current exposure limits for DPM and what methods of control exist? How can DPM be measured? What are the health issues associated with diesel particulate matter?
13. Using the "Brief" and "Scala" method determine the TLV-TWA7 for Hydrogen Sulphide for an 11 hour shift if the TLV-TWA for an 8 hour shift is 10ppm
Table 1: Threshold limit values
|
Component
|
TWA
|
STEL
|
|
Carbon dioxide
|
0.50%
|
3.00%
|
|
Hydrogen sulphide
|
10 ppm
|
15 ppm
|
|
Sulphur Dioxide
|
2 ppm
|
5 ppm
|
14. What is a heat stress index, provide details of 4 such indices
15. What is a TARP?
16. What should appear in a mine traffic management plan?
17. What typical health and safety issues can occur when handling drill core in a core shed?
18. What are the health issues associated with diesel particulate matter?
Part 2. Case Study
Take a specific issue at your workplace or home, undertake a risk assessment using a technique of your choice and describe a system for managing that issue and ensuring statutory compliance. Students may select either their corporate risk assessment proce- dure or choose any applicable risk assessment technique(s) to undertake this. Students are required to report their findings in a suitable format.
Part 3. Risk Assessment
Students are to report on a case study of the Bento Rodrigues dam disaster8910 (also known as the Samarco disaster) which occurred on 5 November 2015. In particular students are to report upon.
1. The incident, i.e. what occurred.
2.The root causes.
3. The impact.
4. The aftermath.
5. National and international reaction.
6.Impacts on the mining companies involved.
7.Key learnings to ensure such an event does not occur again.
Attachment:- Assignment Readings.rar