Lluís Sanmiquel

Analysis of work related accidents in the Spanish mining sector from 1982-2006

INTRODUCTION The rate for work related accidents in the Spanish mining sector is notably higher than in other countries such as the United States. It produces a very negative impact on the mining industry. This paper is the report of a study on serious and fatal accidents in Spanish mining from 1982-2006. It is based on the reports of 212 accidents (serious or fatal) carried out by the General Management of Energy and Mining of Catalonia (Spain). METHOD The high work-related accident rate in the Spanish mining sector makes it necessary to carry out an analysis and research that can shed light on the causes of this high rate; this is the only way that a solution can be found. The study is based on Feyer and Williamsons analysis of accident causes, as they apply to 212 accidents. The types and causes of the accidents are coded according to the coding system used by the Spanish National Institute for Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace, which allows us to identify a series of direct causes and contributing factors in different accidents. Results If all the causes and factors that are present in the accidents are known, we are able to look for appropriate solutions to reduce them as much as possible. In short, we are able to come up with a series of conclusions that expose the weak links in the management of accident prevention in companies. This is helpful in the struggle to reduce work injuries in the Spanish mining sector.

Influence of occupational safety management on the incidence rate of occupational accidents in the Spanish industrial and ornamental stone mining

BACKGROUND Mines are hazardous and workers can suffer many types of accidents caused by fire, flood, explosion or collapse. Injury incidence rates in mining are considerably higher than those registered by other economic sectors. One of the main reasons for this high-level incidence rate is the existence of a large number of dangerous workplaces. OBJECTIVE This work analyzes the influence that occupational safety management had on the accidents that took place in Spanish mining of industrial and ornamental stone during the period 2007-2008. METHODS Primary data sources are: (a) Results from a statistical study of the occupational health and safety management practices of 71 quarries defined by a questionnaire of 41 items; and (b) Occupational accidents registered in the Spanish industrial and ornamental stone mining throughout the period 2007-2008. RESULTS The obtained results indicate that workplaces with a low average score in the analysis of occupational safety management have a higher incidence rate of accidents. CONCLUSIONS Studies on mining workplaces are very important to help detect occupational safety concerns. Results from this study help raise awareness and will encourage the adoption of appropriate measures to improve safety.

Exploratory analysis of Spanish energetic mining accidents.

Abstract Using data on work accidents and annual mining statistics, the paper studies work-related accidents in the Spanish energetic mining sector in 1999-2008. The following 3 parameters are considered: age, experience and size of the mine (in number of workers) where the accident took place. The main objective of this paper is to show the relationship between different accident indicators: risk index (as an expression of the incidence), average duration index for the age and size of the mine variables (as a measure of the seriousness of an accident), and the gravity index for the various sizes of mines (which measures the seriousness of an accident, too). The conclusions of this study could be useful to develop suitable prevention policies that would contribute towards a decrease in work-related accidents in the Spanish energetic mining industry.

A GIS-based approach: Influence of the ventilation layout to the environmental conditions in an underground mine

Gases such as CO, CO2 or NOx are constantly generated by the equipment in any underground mine and the ventilation layout can play an important role in keeping low concentrations in the working faces. Hence, a method able to control the workplace environment is crucial. This paper proposes a geographical information system (GIS) for such goal. The system created provides the necessary tools to manage and analyse an underground environment, connecting pollutants and temperatures with the ventilation characteristics over time. Data concerning the ventilation system, in a case study, has been taken every month since 2009 and integrated into the management system, which has quantified the gasses concentration throughout the mine due to the characteristics and evolution of the ventilation layout. Three different zones concerning CO, CO2, NOx and effective temperature have been found as well as some variations among workplaces within the same zone that suggest local airflow recirculations. The system proposed could be a useful tool to improve the workplace conditions and efficiency levels.

Analysis of occupational accidents in underground and surface mining in Spain using data-mining techniques

An analysis of occupational accidents in the mining sector was conducted using the data from the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Safety between 2005 and 2015, and data-mining techniques were applied. Data was processed with the software Weka. Two scenarios were chosen from the accidents database: surface and underground mining. The most important variables involved in occupational accidents and their association rules were determined. These rules are composed of several predictor variables that cause accidents, defining its characteristics and context. This study exposes the 20 most important association rules in the sector—either surface or underground mining—based on the statistical confidence levels of each rule as obtained by Weka. The outcomes display the most typical immediate causes, along with the percentage of accidents with a basis in each association rule. The most important immediate cause is body movement with physical effort or overexertion, and the type of accident is physical effort or overexertion. On the other hand, the second most important immediate cause and type of accident are different between the two scenarios. Data-mining techniques were chosen as a useful tool to find out the root cause of the accidents.

CFD Friction Factors Verification in an Underground Mine

Marc Bascompta, Jordi Vives, Lluís Sanmiquel, José Juan de Felipe ICL Chair in Sustainable Mining, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Avenue Bases de Manresa, 61-73, 08242-Manresa, Barcelona, Spain marc.bascompta@upc.edu; lluis.sanmiquel@upc.edu Department of Mining Engineering, Industrial and ICT, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Avenue Bases de Manresa, 61-73, 08242-Manresa, Barcelona, Spain jordi.vives@upc.edu; jose.juan.de.felipe@upc.edu

Management of Subsidence in a Potash Mining Area

Lluís Sanmiquel, Marc Bascompta, Jordi Vives, José Juan de Felipe ICL Chair in Sustainable Mining. Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Avenue Bases de Manresa, 61-73, 08242-Manresa, Barcelona, Spain lluis.sanmiquel@upc.edu; marc.bascompta@upc.edu Department of Mining Engineering, Industrial and ICT, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Avenue Bases de Manresa, 61-73, 08242-Manresa, Barcelona, Spain jordi.vives@upc.edu; jose.juan.de.felipe@upc.edu

Assessment of the Errors in the Transmission of the Orientation and Cartographic System from the Surface to an Underground Mine

An accurate transmission of the orientation between surface and underground workings, by means of vertical shafts, is a major challenge in the mining industry, especially for deep mines. We assessed the accuracy of this operation in a case study using the two-shaft plumbing and gyroscopic methods in order to compare and analyse the planimetric displacement of the baseline due to different sources of error in each method. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed. Some disadvantages in each method have been reduced thanks to technological progress, especially in the two-shaft plumbing method. The different sources of error that affect the measurements are analysed in detail with the aim of compensating them and achieving the required precision for an underground infrastructure. Mine ventilation has been identified as one of the most important sources of error in the plumbing method due to intake and return air flow producing a significant displacement of the verticality of the plumbs in the shafts. In this regard, we describe some measures to reduce the influence of ventilation and give details of a compensation method.

Comparison of Accidents at Work between Open Pit and Underground Mining in Spain Using Data Mining Techniques

Lluís Sanmiquel, Marc Bascompta, Josep Ma Rossell, Josep Oliva, Hernán F. Anticoi, Eduard Guasch Iberpotash Chair in Sustainable Mining. Department of Mathematics. Department of Mining Engineering, Industrial and ICT. All the authors are from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Avenue Bases de Manresa, 6173, 08242-Manresa (Barcelona). lluis.sanmiquel@upc.edu; marc.bascompta@upc.edu; josep.maria.rossell@upc.edu; josep.oliva@upc.edu; hernan.anticoi@upc.edu; eduard.guasch@upc.edu

Measuring the relevance of factors in the occurrences of events

A new way to compare the relevance of the different factors intervening in the occurrences of an event is presented and developed in this paper. The idea behind the method comes from cooperative game theory but the focus is slightly different because factors are not necessarily rational decision-makers and because the only data available are obtained by repetition of the event. The concept of relevance measure for a factor in a set of data is introduced, some significant examples are given and the main properties of relevance measures are defined and studied. One of these measures, the fair measure, is proved to have interesting properties which characterize it. Two real world situations, one about traffic accidents and the other one about mining accidents, both of them with real data, are used to show the use of relevance measures to compare factors in each one of these events.