In the past few years, the aggregate industry has experienced a big reduction in the injury and fatality rates. In fact, if current trends hold, 2008 will go down as the safest year yet in terms of injuries and fatalities in our industry. While just one fatality is one too many, it is heartening to note these continued improvements.

According to Mine Safety and Health Administration statistics, metal and nonmetal mines had fewer fatalities in 2008 than in they did in any year since deaths began being tracked in 1910.

There are a number of factors tied to this trend, but the growing culture of safety within aggregate operations is a main reason that injury and fatality numbers are down.

In February 2003, MSHA and National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association entered the Alliance Agreement, a pledge that MSHA and NSSGA would work together to reduce injuries at aggregate operations.

Its first initiative was to develop a management commitment safety pledge to be signed by NSSGA members. This step actually was in response to a number of member companies where the CEO or owner had made a similar commitment to achieve a reduction in injuries. In 2003, approximately 86% of the NSSGA producer member companies signed the original safety pledge, promising their efforts to help reduce the injury-incident rate in aggregates by 50% by the end of 2007. It was a lofty goal.

Industry statistics from MSHA show that the total injury rate declined from 3.58 in 2002 to 2.86 in 2007. In addition, the number of fatalities also declined from 20 per 100,000 employees in 2002 to 11 per 100,000 employees in 2007. The alliance renewed its agreement in 2006, and NSSGA published the safety pledge again in 2008, encouraging members to renew their commitment to establishing a culture of prevention in the workplace.

Zach Knoop is safety director for Knife River in Bismarck, N.D. That company recently celebrated its 10th anniversary of no reportable MSHA violations. “We began looking at culture several years ago, and within the past two years, our emphasis is much more on that than on conditions and traditional safety management,” Knoop says. In 2007, Knife River conducted a company-wide employee safety perception survey. The survey results allowed Knife River to determine strengths and weaknesses, and provided the company with a baseline.

“From that, we developed a Continuous Improvement Safety Process,” Knoop says. “This process involves our employees in coming up with solutions to the weaknesses. In 2008, we had more than 25 cross-functional (aggregates, construction, trucking, etc.) teams tackling various safety deficiencies.”

The teams have the support of management to develop and implement solutions. CoreMedia, consultants out of Portland, Ore., has assisted Knife River in implementing its new safety processes.

In addition, Knife River has developed a publication called Innovative Safety Ideas, which includes ideas submitted from employees in the field — revolving around actions and products available on the market that improve safety. And the company tracks its zero-citation MSHA inspections, recognizing the crews that achieve that goal.

“WE HAVE ALSO spent considerable time and money in training our safety managers, mine operators and executive management on MSHA law, and we're definitely getting a return on our investment from this training,” Knoop says. “This entire process is getting our employees more involved in safety; they are becoming owners. It is a real grassroots effort in addressing safety concerns.”

The MSHA and NSSGA alliance allows for constructive dialogue on the best methods for advancing the cause for safety among regulators and operators. It takes MSHA beyond the role of being just a regulator. And, by virtue of the alliance, there is much more constructive guidance from MSHA to operators on how to address various issues in the workplace.

For example, the training programs mandated by 30 CFR Part 46 were the products of the MSHA and NSSGA cooperation. This legislation — enacted in record time with mutual endorsements — facilitated joint work by the two organizations to successfully update equipment-guarding practices. Also, the Alliance Data Mining Initiative has produced several Alerts documents that provide important safety information and are available on both the MSHA and NSSGA Web sites. Additionally, a CEO newsletter reminds mining operations' chief executives that safety is a critical issue.

As aggregate operators know, MSHA creates its citable standards around unsafe conditions because a condition is something an inspector can see and record. For instance, a moving machine part that lacks the required guarding is a condition that MSHA will cite. Likewise, another condition is the lack of working horns or backup alarms, as is a set of malfunctioning brakes. Historically, the number-one MSHA citation has been a lack of guarding.

In order to reduce their MSHA citations, aggregate producers can look at what might have created those citable conditions. The condition is the visible part of the problem. But producers are finding that the human element is the bigger factor that they must address to improve safety conditions on site. It's the “why” part of the equation. Something caused the condition to exist, and that something usually turns out to be behavioral in nature. For example, most MSHA citations are the result of a failure on the employees' part to conduct adequate workplace inspections, and to see and correct the unsafe conditions.

AND WHILE MSHA can't regulate what causes hazardous conditions, the agency and NSSGA — through the safety alliance — are working to raise awareness of what causes unsafe conditions and improve training for mine employees that will address the human factor in mining. In turn, this also should reduce the hazardous conditions that can arise.

In developing its own safety cultures, at the most basic level, NSSGA recommends that producers teach their personnel to ask themselves if they are properly trained, are using the correct tools and equipment, and have the correct personal protection equipment for each of the tasks they will perform.

NSSGA's equipment manufacturing members have been an important ally in improving safety. They've done so by growing a safety culture of their own and increasing equipment safety features.

As equipment has become more sophisticated, the industry has become better able to use such upgrades to enhance workplace safety. Advances in hydraulics and automation have enabled workers to keep a greater distance from the risks posed by moving equipment parts; the same is true for improved guarding on crushers, washing equipment, screens and conveyors. Rear-view cameras on haul trucks can minimize accidents. Contact sensors and edge sensors for heavy equipment also improve worker safety.

It's encouraging that the industry is making a difference in safety statistics through self-regulation. Of course, in order to meet the alliance's goal, producers must continue training personnel to police themselves better. They must make it part of the industry's culture to be more observant, conduct necessary examinations and eliminate hazards when possible.

FATALITIES

Metal/Nonmetal
Mining Fatalities

Year	Miners	Fatalities
1988	225,422	49
1989	234,459	48
1990	235,690	56
1991	230,107	53
1992	224,567	43
1993	219,320	51
1994	225,498	40
1995	229,536	53
1996	229,045	47
1997	235,915	61
1998	235,561	51
1999	238,852	55
2000	240,450	47
2001	232,770	30
2002	218,148	42
2003	215,325	26
2004	220,274	27
2005	228,401	35
2006	240,522	26
2007	255,186	33
2008	258,519	22

Source: MSHA

INJURIES

Metal/Nonmetal
Mining Injuries

Sand and Gravel

Year	Injuries	Incident Rate
1988	2,083	6.90
1989	2,490	8.26
1990	2,340	7.82
1991	2,079	7.50
1992	1,948	7.02
1993	1,821	6.45
1994	1,845	6.26
1995	1,688	5.70
1996	1,623	5.41
1997	1,612	5.19
1998	1,634	5.01
1999	1,543	4.49
2000	1,501	4.41
2001	1,350	4.02
2002	1,251	3.82
2003	1,251	3.85
2004	1,172	3.51
2005	1,255	3.66
2006	1,174	3.37
2007	964	2.89
Stone Operations
Year	Injuries	Incident Rate
1988	6,405	9.12
1989	6,727	9.81
1990	6,151	9.10
1991	5,644	8.97
1992	5,139	8.18
1993	5,207	8.09
1994	5,117	7.72
1995	4,651	6.88
1996	4,286	6.28
1997	4,206	6.04
1998	4,213	5.87
1999	4,148	5.68
2000	4,300	5.88
2001	4,005	5.56
2002	3,593	5.14
2003	3,420	4.94
2004	3,377	4.75
2005	3,388	4.60
2006	3,173	4.26
2007	2,834	3.92
Figures do not include office worker incidents. Source: MSHA