Morragh Mine

Morragh Mine

1. Identify the hazards in the case, which can be environmental, situational, human or ergonomic.

Environmental Hazards

Mining is a dangerous occupation, and many of these dangers are associated with the environment in which the miners worked. One environmental hazard evident in this case was the dangers the miners encountered while working underground. While working in this type of situation there are always threats of cave-ins and because the environment is underground there would be a lack of natural light.

Situational Hazards

Situational hazards are known as unsafe conditions which exist when proper measures are not taken by company officials, for example, management not providing proper safe equipment. There are many situational factors apparent in this case; the first situational factor was the high levels of methane gas in the underground mine. The reason for these high methane levels were because the mine was not properly ventilated and methanometers were not working correctly.

A second situational hazard was the ankle-deep coal dust on the mine ground. This is a situational hazard because proper clean-up procedures were not utilized, therefore, causing the working environment to be unsafe. Oil rags and oil spills were not cleaned up on a regular basis at Morragh. There were reports of oil rags being left underground, and oil spills not being cleaned up. This poor house keeping caused the underground working environment to be unsafe. Management at Morragh mine did not acknowledge their occupational health and safety committee. The fact that the OH&S committee was not encouraged to meet and they were not acknowledged makes this a situational hazard.

A fifth situational hazard was the improper maintenance of mining machinery. One miner testified that the machinery was being modified to meet government regulations; the modification of machinery caused it to be defective and therefore should not have been used by workers. Another maintenance worker reported that he was unable to do repairs on machinery because it was needed. Miners were using unsafe machinery supplied by management this is an obvious situational hazard.

A final situational hazard in this case is managements' use of unauthorized miners and equipment underground, this usage caused the mine working environment to be unsafe.

Human Hazards

Human hazards are unsafe acts performed by workers because of poor judgment, or because of an employee failing to perform a task. There were many human hazards during the operation of Morragh mine. The first human hazard would be management and government allowing uncertified miners and machinery in the underground mine. This is a human hazard because management and the government are using poor judgment when determining mining operations.

A second human hazard apparent in this case would be management failing to evacuate the mine when methane levels were too high. Reports after the explosion concluded that the methane levels were high enough to require management to issue a stop work order. The report also indicated that methaneometers were not working; this is a human hazard because management failed to ensure that safety regulations were followed.

Clean-up procedures were not a common practice for the workers of Morragh mine. A third human hazard would be poor clean-up practices demonstrated by the -employees of Morragh mine. Management and employees failed to clean-up accumulated coal dust, there were reports of oil spills not being cleaned up and oil rags and buckets being left in the underground mine. This is an unsafe routine because one spark from mining equipment could cause a massive explosion. Another human hazard associated with poor clean-up practices is admission of a supervisor's poor dusting procedures. A supervisor admitted that dusting was not done very often and usually was only done before mining inspectors were scheduled to arrive. Management was also negligence in scheduling adequate time for proper stonedusting. The investigation into the explosion reported that miners were working long hours and in order for clean-up methods to be performed properly miners would have to work overtime.

Management was not allowing adequate time for maintenance work. It was reported that two months before the explosion a maintenance worker could not complete repair work on mining equipment because it was needed for work underground. Because management allowed broken equipment to be involved in dangerous mining operations this would be a human hazard. Maintenance workers were also required to modify machinery in order to conform to safety regulations. This is a human hazard because workers are required to work with machinery that could possibly be dangerous and employees maybe using the machinery improperly.

Management did not encourage the development of an occupational health and safety committee. The company never encouraged the committee to meet and discuss safety concerns and management was not involved with the committee. There were also problems with mining inspections, government investigations into this problem produced irregularities. Many orders issued by mining inspectors were not carried out. Management and mining inspectors not ensuring that safety standards were followed is a human hazard.

2. How does the case illustrate the statement, "poor occupational health and safety is a high cost item?" Distinguish between direct and indirect costs in your answer.

This explosion is a prime example of what could happen if employers do not follow occupational health and safety laws. Employers have a legislative responsibility to protect the health and safety of its employees, and Morragh mine failed at this primary duty. Poor occupational health and safety is a high cost item because the ramifications of an injury, illness, or death are quite costly for a company.

Direct costs are expenses that are visible to management and employees. These costs include workers compensation and insurance. They are costs that employers know will occur if an accident happens or costs that are a direct result of the accident. A direct cost associated to the explosion that occurred at Morragh mine would be an increase in workers compensation premiums. A second direct cost would be the death of the twenty miners; this is a direct cost because the company has to pay benefits to family members of the deceased workers.

Indirect costs are cost that surface after an accident is investigated; these are also cost that are not a direct result of the accident. Examples of indirect costs are