The U.S. Department of Labor has just released the 2006 Metal & Nonmetal Fatal Accident Review . The positive news is that 2006 experienced the lowest number of fatalities on record- 18 mine employees and 7 contractors for a total of 25. The bad news is that all of these accidents were preventable. No surprise to anyone that more than half of all fatalities involved the maintenance crew. What was a surprise was the fact that fully 1/3 of fatalities involved mine workers that had between 10-15 years of experience.

The majority of fatal accidents have these common characteristics:

1) Failure to identify hazards, and 2) Failure to manage risks

The key root causes were: No Risk Assessment Conducted  No/Inadequate Policy or Procedures  Did not use Personal Protective Equipment  Lack of Pre-operation Checks  Equipment not Maintained  Training Inadequate  Failure to Conduct Examinations

Let's use this information to guide our way to making 2007 an even safer year!