Pit & Quarry, February 2010

F atal falls MSHAs Metal Nonmetal Monitor lists five fatal falls in 2008 out of 23 fatal injuries It didnt seem quite right It was natural to check 2007 Four fatal falls in 2007 out of 26 fatals were even fewer One of the four 2007 fatals was classified as a drowning which could make it an outlier for fatal falls reviews However it is still highly likely that the miner fell into the water One more year 2006 had three fatal falls out of a total of 26 fatal injuries In a total of 82 fatal injuries 12 or 13 were falls That makes 14 percent or 15 percent depending how the drowning is counted Fifteen percent is an anomaly because in the general population falls are responsible for a higher percentage of deaths Fewer deaths on the job indicate that mining is less hazardous than life in the off the job world The obvious question is how far did the victims fall Five of the 13 were 7 ft or less The fall into water was about 2 ft Seven were from 17 to 57 ft One was from 1000 ft down a mineshaft His partner had his fall protection secured The victim had not secured the fall protection he was wearing The injuries included abrasions contusions fractures multiple internal injuries and brain injuries The variety of injuries is to be expected The fatal results reflect multiple injuries One would assume that elevated work locations are more hazardous than working at ground level or perhaps not Falls from standing position The zone of occupation for a baby or infant is pretty much determined by where a mother puts it Once walking starts the great majority of life for children and adults takes place in the occupied AT A HIGH VOLUME LEVEL I CITY TRAUMA CENTER 15352 PATIENTS WERE EVALUATED AND 9642 WERE ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL OF THE 9642 ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL 808 HAD FALLS FROM THE STANDING POSITION zone between the soles of the feet and the top of the head 5 or 6 ft away For the sake of argument a fall from a standing position is probably on average from 5 or 6 ft for the head Not very far What about these short falls As expected brain injury is the most serious injury and occurs frequently and it is classed as severe trauma At a high volume Level I city trauma center 15352 patients were evaluated and 9642 were admitted to the hospital Of the 9642 admitted to the hospital 808 had falls from the standing position Seventyfive percent were admitted to the hospital 40 percent of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit Eight percent of the 808 died and 10 percent required long term nursing care About 4 percent of the 15352 patients evaluated by the trauma unit died from fall from the standing position Safety tip Soft tissue lacerations and abrasions were the most common injury Brain injury was the most severe or potentially life threatening injury It gets worse The central nervous system meaning brain and spinal cord raised the central nervous system injury rate to 25 percent Remember this set of falls was from the standing position ctSince this was a city trauma center serving a broad population occupational injuries in general and mining injuries in particular were not isolated in this study However a fall is a fall and if low level falls have this much potential for serious injury then the same potential is active in a mine pit or quarry A different but related study reported that 36 percent of trauma center treated falls were occupationally related The occupations listed were construction roofer painter tree surgeon carpenter longshoreman firefighter and of course miscellaneous In multiple plant visits since June 1969 I have seen miners working in every one of these jobs with the possible exception of firefighter Fall potential is everywhere mitigate it Start with housekeeping y Falls ubiquitous and dangerous A fall is a fall and if low level falls have this much potential for serious injury then the same potential is active in a mine pit or quarry Safety BY CARL METZGAR Carl R Metzgar CSP has more than 30 years of safety and health experience in the aggregates industry He provides consulting services with a specialization in program evaluation training compliance and loss control and can be reached at 336 766 8264 cmetz46840@ aol com ISTOCKPHOTO COM NANCY LOUIE 56 PIT QUARRY February 2010 www pitandquarry com