Safety and compliance are important issues in many industries. In the mining industry, which has long been known for its potential dangers, keeping up with the latest trends in safety and compliance can go a long way toward improving the overall health and safety of workers in the industry. Modern safety requirements and technology have gone a long way toward ensuring a safer working environment for many miners. However, mining still faces a number of dangers, and workers and companies must carefully track those practices to ensure the highest possible level of safety for workers. 

What Safety Factors are Important in Mining?

The mining industry must take a number of critical safety factors into account as part of regular operations.

• Coal dust and other contaminants. Often, miners find themselves at high risk of inhaling contaminants that can lead to serious health issues, including “black lung.” 
• Fall risks. Miners may work in large pits or dangerous environments with a high risk of dangerous falling conditions. 
• Heat stress occurs when miners work in hot or humid environments. Often, miners work in dangerously hot conditions throughout much of their shifts, which can increase not only the risk of immediate health concerns like heat exhaustion but also long-term health problems. 
• Heavy lifting. Miners may need to shift heavy items and equipment, which may cause repetitive stress problems, fractures, or potential immediate injury. 
• Chemical exposure. Miners may work with dangerous or hazardous chemicals that may raise the risk of developing a damaging health condition. Proper handling of chemicals can help keep miners safer. 
• Noise and vibration exposure. While heavy exposure to noise can damage hearing, heavy vibration exposure can lead to long-term health problems. 

Maintaining safety when mining is a tough job. Utilizing the right strategies, however, miners can often stay much safer as they complete those essential job tasks. 

What Are the Main Challenges in the Mining Industry?

The mining industry continues to face a number of potential hazards and problems. 

1. Environmental Concerns

Increasingly, the public is becoming aware of the dangers associated with using high quantities of natural resources. Furthermore, there is an increasing scarcity of many of those resources. In order to access them, miners may need to head into more dangerous conditions or face higher overall risks as they work in those environments. 

2. Inadequate Training

Like many industries, the mining industry is facing a talent shortage. As a result, many companies need to push new miners into available positions faster, without giving them adequate time to adapt to the challenges and issues in the mines. Inadequate training, especially lack of training on safety gear, can lead to a number of potential health hazards for many miners. 

3. Health and Safety

Health and safety remain ongoing concerns in the mining industry. Miners may face considerable health hazards as part of their everyday work. As companies strive to meet health and safety regulations, they may face substantially increased costs. 

What Is the Biggest Health Risk of Mining?

The biggest health issue faced by miners is pneumoconiosis or dusty lung disease. Miners face a considerable risk of developing dangerous lung conditions, including lung cancer, due to inhaling large quantities of dust as part of their everyday job responsibilities. Coal workers, who may develop a specific type of pneumoconiosis known as black lung disease, inhale coal dust particles, which can increase their risk. Modern medical science cannot cure symptoms of dusty lung disease. 

What Is the Leading Cause of Mining Industry Fatalities?

A number of miners die as a result of the dangers they face, including both long-term dangers, like dust exposure, and short-term risks, like explosions in the mines. Explosions often occur due to methane gas, which gets released as coal is extracted from the mines. Unfortunately, methane gas is highly explosive, which means that, if proper safety precautions are not taken, it can result in devastating explosions. 

How Can We Improve Safety in the Mining Industry?

Modern technology offers a number of solutions that may help improve safety across the mining industry. 

1. Increased Data and Analytics

Many smaller mining operations do not have access to the large-scale data larger companies use to monitor employees and ensure the highest level of safety during mining operations. Collaboration and sharing of data can help increase awareness of potential safety problems, which can help keep miners safer. Effective analytics can help predict potential dangers in the mines, analyze the risk that they will occur, and provide more information as needed. As a result, many companies are able to focus better on important safety procedures.

2. Wearable Devices

Wearable devices are offering more information than ever. They can provide insights into oxygen levels, vibration, and noise levels. Those devices can offer key insights that make it much easier to determine when miners are at risk. As a result, companies are better positioned to protect their workers.

3. Intensive Training

Providing the right training for miners can make a huge difference in their ability to maintain safety underground. Often, miners will face safety hazards as part of their daily jobs. Intensive safety training helps ensure that they can recognize risks, properly operate equipment, and avoid potential disasters. Regular updates and assessments can also help ensure higher levels of employee training.

4. Automation and Robotics

In order to keep workers out of harm’s way, many companies are using robots and automation processes to help improve overall safety across the mining industry. With robots down in the mines, humans are not placed in danger during some of the trickiest parts of those operations. As a result, overall safety across the mining industry has increased substantially.

Dealing with the risks present in the mining industry is an ongoing process. However, as the industry continues to focus more heavily on overall health and safety, companies are in a much better position to keep their workers as safe as possible.

The oil, gas, and mining industries have significant workplace hazards, and confined spaces are often the riskiest places on a job site. Working in confined spaces is often essential. That’s why companies must take steps to mitigate the hazards. A confined space safety plan is vital for efficient operations and the safety of your team.

What Is a Confined Space?

According to OSHA, the definition of a confined space is any space that isn’t designed for people, but workers can enter to do essential work when necessary. This can be any area where workers aren’t free to move about or react to danger. Examples include a cistern, tunnel, equipment housing, or pipeline.

The regulatory body further denotes potentially dangerous confined spaces as “permit-required confined space,” or just “permit space” for short. These permit spaces include areas where a confined space poses additional risks to a worker. A permit space includes areas that could potentially trap or injure a worker, contain harmful chemicals, or don’t allow for easy escape.

All confined spaces must be approached with a thorough safety plan. However, permit-required confined spaces can be serious workplace hazards. Precautions must always be taken. OSHA and other regulatory agencies enforce certain safety measures in permit space.

Working in Confined Spaces

All employees who work in confined spaces must be thoroughly trained on the potential hazards and all the safety precautions available to them. While some work in confined spaces may be quick and urgent, ensure only workers trained to work in those conditions enter. Accidents are disruptive to the flow of your operation. More importantly, though, your workers have a right to a safe workplace.

Before entering any confined space, inspect the area to ensure all safety equipment is in place and functioning properly and that there are no unexpected hazards. Tests on temperature and oxygen levels should also be routine before work begins.

Once inside a confined space, the worker should maintain contact with a trained attendant the entire time. This can be done visually with a camera feed or by voice for permit space with an opening. It can also easily be accomplished with radios. While working, the technician should continue to update the attendant on their status. As they work, they should verify full function of any safety equipment like full protection, ventilation, and lighting. In many situations, the attendant can also monitor some of these factors outside the confined space. 

The procedure should always be followed in confined spaces, and there should always be redundant steps to verify a safe working environment. Gauges and monitoring software should not be implicitly trusted, but instead verified for accuracy continually.

Planning for Safety

To ensure safety and smooth operations, every operation needs a well-crafted plan for working in confined spaces. The plan you use shouldn’t be a generalized solution. Instead, have specific measures for the confined spaces your workers face daily. Each space should have a plan specific to its particular hazards. Additionally, only workers trained in that space and its safety plan should be allowed inside.

When creating your safety plan, start with a thorough inspection of any confined spaces. Identify potential hazards and conditions that could complicate movement or safety precautions. Consider the type of work that may be done in the space. Lastly, create a checklist that verifies the safety of the space for workers before entry.

This is a start, but a comprehensive safety plan continually evolves to ensure the safest working environment possible. Learn from any unexpected hazards that present themselves in confined spaces, and continually update your safety plan. A hazard that occurs once will likely happen again. Therefore, adapt your safety measures to provide the best protection for your workers.

Always Stick to the Plan

If your safety plan for confined spaces isn’t followed, it does nothing to protect your workers. Furthermore, if safety precautions are being ignored in the most dangerous areas of your operation, you’re not providing the legally required protections to workers. 

A culture of safety doesn’t happen overnight. Your workers need to know that safety is important, and the safety plan for confined spaces is non-negotiable. Supervisors in your operation should all be thoroughly trained on each safety plan, as well as on the importance of following them every time.

Culture flows from the top down, typically. As your workers see that it’s important to their supervisors, they will care more about the safety plan.

Record Compliance

To ensure your safety plan for confined spaces is followed, keep logs of every activity in confined spaces. Workers should document who entered when and why every time work is conducted. This lets you know that your workers are taking safety seriously. In addition, this approach compiles a record of compliance for any inspectors. As your safety plan is implemented, records let you see any changes that need to be made.

Only authorized and trained workers should be working in confined spaces. Ensure they are entirely comfortable with the process and can document their work and any comments on the plan every time. Remember to get feedback from those workers on the plan, as they are your best resource for knowing when changes need to be made.

Automate Safety Plans with GoCanvas

Safety is about consistency and attention to detail. With any safety plan for working in a confined space, your workers need to be consistent every time in the precautions they take. 

At the same time, you don’t want to create extra work for your team that could cause them to waste time or skip essential safety steps. With GoCanvas, you can automate your safety plan so that staying safe is straightforward for your workers.With GoCanvas, you can create custom mobile forms to automate your safety process without being a tech guru. GoCanvas makes it easy for your workers to stay compliant and safe. Come see how our confined space safety plan support can make your operation safer and smoother today!

Clean energy jobs grew 5% in 2022 to a total of 3.2 million. Of that total, renewable energy contributed to 515,248 jobs. As with the rest of the US economy, small businesses employ the majority of Americans. Approximately 90% of the clean energy workforce comes from businesses with less than 100 employees. With growth projected to continue until at least 2026, renewable energy contractors need comprehensive work safety programs in place.

Most people think of solar and wind when they think of renewable energy. However, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal are also part of the sector. According to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational, Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), renewable energy safety risks include:

• Machinery Misuse
• Falls
• Electricity
• Confined Spaces

While the renewable energy sector may share safety risks, the contributing factors vary. How can renewable energy contractors increase worker safety?

Machinery Misuse

Renewable energies use specialized equipment. Knowing how to install solar panels and maintain wind turbines requires training. And without proper training, employees may injure themselves or others.

Cranes install and maintain wind turbines. Only trained personnel should operate a crane. For example, it may be just a few feet to reposition a crane. However, unstable surfaces, power lines, and swing radii can create unsafe conditions. 

Back injuries are 25% of all compensation claims. And many of those come from workers failing to use the equipment correctly. For example, they may fail to use equipment to help with lifting. Individuals working with solar panels lift the panels and tools on and off trucks and onto a roof without assistance, causing unnecessary injury.

Biomass energy uses harvesting machines with sharp blades that run at high speed. Machinery can throw objects, causing injury to anyone standing too close. In addition, wind turbines have large moving parts that can injure anyone on the job site.

Ensuring equipment is maintained correctly is crucial to a safe work environment. Developing a process to let employees report equipment concerns can stop an accident before it happens. Digitizing these forms allows workers to report hazards immediately. Employees can complete a digital form as soon as they see a problem, so repairs can be addressed quickly.

Falls

Falls are the second most common workplace injury, costing $10.26 million per year. Every renewable energy contractor should have safety measures in place to prevent falls. Granted, a fall from a 300-foot wind turbine is different than one from a 12-foot ladder. However, every energy workplace should provide safety training and tools as a standard part of any program.

Wind farm employees need safety harnesses, guardrails, and training for both on and offshore turbines. Solar panels are installed on commercial buildings at dangerous heights. Even at residential locations, installers can suffer serious injuries from falls. Keeping energy workplaces free of debris can minimize the risk of a fall.

Outdoor elements can contribute to slips, trips, and falls. Leaves become slippery when wet. Sticks and tree limbs can make for unsure footing. Conduct job site safety analyses to identify all hazards. This simple step can minimize the risk of falls. Providing a digital safety form that employees can complete before work starts to make the paperwork convenient. But it also helps to keep the renewable energy construction site safe.

Electricity

Electricity can cause thermal burns, shock, and electrocution. Electrical current runs through wind farms, solar panels, and hydropower stations. Workers can suffer serious injury without proper safety processes in place. Perform a job safety analysis before work begins. In addition, provide protective equipment. And most importantly, cut power to the location.

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) reports that electrocution is a common hydropower safety hazard. Minimize risk by considering safety in the design of power stations. The IHA recommends written processes to ensure that equipment is maintained, training is completed, and procedures are followed.

Train everyone involved in clean energy construction and maintenance on the basics of electrical safety. Employees should be trained on how to avoid contact with electrical currents and what to do in case of an emergency. 

Confined Spaces

OSHA indicates that working in confined spaces presents a safety hazard, especially in wind turbines. The safety organization notes that confined spaces inside wind turbines can cause asphyxiation, due to low oxygen levels. Job safety analysis should be performed before employees enter confined spaces in the energy workplace.

Employers must screen workers to prevent those with claustrophobia or similar conditions from working in confined spaces. Panic attacks can create unsafe working conditions. 

Wind turbines can also generate harmful gases and vapors. Dust particles are in the air circulating in and around a turbine. Clean energy employers must ensure that employees have protective equipment, such as respirators, to reduce the inhalation of possible contaminants. 

Biomass energy also presents respiratory hazards from crops, fungi, and mold. Employees should have protection to limit inhaling particles that could damage the lungs or trigger allergies.

Increased Worker Safety

The 2022 Safety Index shows that nonfatal workplace injuries cost US businesses $49.18 billion in 2022, or about $1 billion per week. These are direct costs for the top 10 causes of injuries. It does not include the indirect costs that many businesses overlook.

A recent OSHA article highlighted the added cost of workplace injury in areas such as labor shortages and psychosocial risks. When an injury occurs, it impacts the entire team. Employees who take on more work to cover for an injured employee become more stressed, as they are already working long hours because of labor shortages.

Business cultures may suffer when an employee is injured. The remaining employees may feel less secure and express concerns that can lead to disgruntled staff. Disengaged employees are less productive and prone to errors.

A work-related injury costs a business more than direct compensation. It can damage morale and lower productivity. Renewable energy contractors can avoid unnecessary injuries by implementing a comprehensive safety program that encourages communication.

Digitize Your Safety Plan to Protect Renewable Energy Contractors

Letting employees communicate their concerns and observations through digital forms demonstrates a willingness to work together to create a safe work environment. When those forms can be delivered to a mobile device, it encourages employees to participate in reporting issues to improve worker safety. GoCanvas allows businesses to create customized digital forms that can be incorporated into a comprehensive safety program. Contact GoCanvas today to see how we can help you digitize your safety plan.