Quantitative hazard assessment for Zonguldak Coal Basin underground mines

Abstract

Abstract Underground coal mining is one of the most dangerous occupations throughout the world. The reasons behind an underground occupational accident are too complex to analyze mainly due to many uncertainties which may arise from geological, operational conditions of the mine or individual characteristics of employees. This study proposes implementing a quantitative methodology for the analysis and assessment of hazards associated with occupational accidents. The application of the proposed approach is performed on the mines of Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises (TTK). The accidents in TTK between the years 2000 and 2014 are firstly statistically analyzed with respect to the number, type and location of accidents, age, experience, education level and main duty of the casualties and also injuries resulting from such accidents. The hazards are classified as individual, operational and locational hazards and quantified using contingency tables, conditional and total probability theorems. Lower and upper boundaries of hazards are determined and event trees for each hazard class are prepared. Total hazard evaluation results show that Armutcuk, Karadon and Uzulmez mines have relatively high hazard levels while Amasra and Kozlu mines have relatively lower hazard values.