The development of statistical indices for the evaluation of hazards in longwall face operations

This study evaluates the relationship between the probability of occurrence of an injury of a given degree to a coal miner working underground in longwall or room and pillar mining. Factors considered in the analysis include age, type of experience and occupation of a miner. In addition, the relationships between "fatal" versus "no injury," "disabling" versus "no injury," "days lost" versus "no injury," and "medical" versus "no injury" in longwall mining are also considered in this study.; The analysis utilizes the 1985 data on injured miners and marginal distributions on the uninjured miners provided by Butani's (1986) demographic survey. The logistic model is utilized in estimating the parameters pertaining to significant categories of the variables of interest (i.e., type of mining system, experience, age, and occupation of a miner). The results are transformed into indices (odds ratios) which are used to compare and contrast the various categories in a given variable with respect to occurrence of an injury of a given degree. The results reveal significant categories for age, mining system and occupation variables.; The accident and injury problem is examined through the use of a logistic model with an assumption that not all coal face miners are subjected to the same risk. The complex nature of the problem is revealed by a number of complications, e.g., the problem of accurate information on the uninjured miners in relation to the overall analysis. Despite this problem, the application of the logistic model in analyzing accident and injury data represents a major step in the development of sound statistical models that relate to the total picture of improving safety in underground coal mines.