Michigan Mine Safety Training Program Quarterly Newsletter 1-99

Highlights Inside

Michigan State Grants Mine Safety Training Newsletter 99-1

Manager - Dave Carlson 906/487-2453, Email dcarlson@mtu.edu Mining Engineering Department

Mary Ewert - Clerk 906/487-2272 Michigan Technological University

Program Director/Department Chair - Francis Otuonye 906/487-2610 Houghton, MI 49931

Internet Home Page - http://www.mine-safety.mtu.edu

Contact Dave Carlson at the phone number listed above for assistance with setting up a safety training workshop. Contact Mary Ewert for locating suitable videos and other training materials or handouts for your in-house workshops. If we can't answer your safety-related questions we will find out or put you in touch with someone who can. See our internet home page at the address listed above.

Program Updates

Proposal for Current Year's Funding Approved.

The Michigan Mine Safety and Health Training Program will be funded again during 1999. The Program will continue to emphasize low-cost annual refresher training for miners and providing training and materials for supervisors.

Michigan Mine Safety and Health Training

Program Internet Site Expanded and Renamed.

The Program's Internet site currently takes up 0.024 gigabites of memory on the Depart-ment's server. The existing harddrive is nearly filled to capacity. The Program now has its own 9 gigabite harddrive (375 times larger available capacity), making it possible to greatly increase training materials presented. Note that "http://www.mine-safety.mtu.edu" is our new simplified Internet address.

Costs for Training to Remain Unchanged in 1999.

A detailed description of the Michigan Mine Safety and Health Training Program was presented in Newsletter 97-1 (available on our internet home page). Training is scheduled by calling David Carlson at 906/487-2453. The mines trained must provide an adequate training location. Travel charges from the instructor's home location to the training location are paid by the mines at $0.325 per mile plus motels and a nominal charge for meals. Charges for training are determined as follows:

1. Small mine (less than 50 employees) - $200 minimum charge for 8 hours of training with an additional $20 charge for each person in excess of 10.
2. Large mine (more than 50 employees) - $400 minimum charge for 8 hours of training with an additional $20 charge for each person in excess of 20.
3. If the training includes the 4-hour first aid course which meets the minimum part 56 requirements, add $5 per person for training materials.
4. Travel charges to clients sites are calculated at $0.325 per mile from the trainer's home and also include the costs of motels and meals. No additional charges are made to clients for the trainer's hourly wages in preparation, travel, or training.

These very low rates are possible because the Grant covers roughly 75 % of the overall Program costs. A schedule is attached of training times when travel costs are not charged to clients. To avoid paying travel costs, clients must schedule training on preset dates when an instructor will be in their area. Phil Eggerding, Sharon Regan-Brown and Ron Gebbie will continue to do Michigan's training during the 1999 season. Schedule Your Training Now. Call Dave Carlson at 906/487-2453.

New Services Available to Michigan's Mines

Program personnel in MTU's Mining Engineering Department have now greatly expanded the number of safety-and health-related services which Michigan's mines (and general industry) can obtain. Still available are services added in the past which include:

1. Respirator Fit Testing and training.

2. First Aid Training.

3. Monitoring dust using personal and area samplers to determine employee exposure to respirable silica and other particulates, and to identify particulate sources.

MTU is now offering a number of new services to the State's mines. Costs for these services are based on nominal daily rates for Program personnel and the cost to travel to the client's site.

Photo Audits - A client can schedule a photo audit -- a pair of trained friendly eyes and a digital camera to help you identify hazards and MSHA violations in your workplace. This service involves an inspection of the client's site and interviews with personnel. It includes the taking of an unlimited number of color photographs to identify safety concerns. The client has the option of either having the photographs used for site-specific employee annual refresher training or having them presented confidentially to management personnel (or both).

The digital photographs on computer floppy disks, and, if desired, in the form of a booklet of safety concerns, become the property of the mine to use for future in-house training or to dispose of them when the interviews are complete.

The use of a digital camera makes it possible, for example, to take the photographs on the morning of a given day, organize them during the afternoon, and conduct the training (or management discussions) on the following day, thereby minimizing the costs to clients. Clients may also obtain a packet of materials based on the audits to use for an in-house Safety and Health Program. The packet will include such items as procedures, blank forms, and dates to conduct follow-up safety and health activities.

Dust Monitoring "Do-it-Yourself" Training - An MTU technical person can "walk you through" setting up your own dust monitoring program. This service can be conducted in a variety of ways, but will most likely involve telephone and fax, E-mail, and letter discussions on the sampling and calibration equipment you will need, along with supply and equipment costs and procedures. An MTU person can then travel to your site to train your contact person and participate in the initial equipment calibration and monitoring of your personnel. You have the option of having the MTU person conduct the entire sampling program using MTU and (or) rental equipment rather than involving your equipment and employees.

Monitoring for Toxic Gases "Do-it Yourself" Training - This program will be conducted similar to the Dust Monitoring "Do-it-Yourself" Training. An MTU technical person will train your selected employee(s) in the calibration, use, and limitations of sampling equipment for toxic gases in selected atmospheres at your site (such as confined spaces).

Other Specialized Training Available from MTU

1. Lock-out/Tag-out
2. Hazard Communication
3. General Hazard Recognition and Emergency Response (using worksite photos).
4. Fall Protection
5. Confined Space Testing and Entry.
6. Mobile Equipment Operator including Fork-Lift.
7. Health and Safety Record-Keeping.
8. Drug & Alcohol Abuse in the Workplace.
9. Ergonomic Assement Training for Supervisors.
10. Supervisor Training in the Fundamentals of Pro-Active Safety.

Mine Safety "Jepardy" Game Wins a First Place Award in MSHA's Training Material Competition

The Michigan Mine Safety and Health Training program received an award on Oct 13, 1998 at the TRAM-National Mine Safety Instructors Seminar in Beckley, WV. The award was in the General Academia category of the Training Materials Competition. The "Jepardy" game is a web-browser-based computer game that instructors can use as a teaching tool for reviewing material.

The game is patterned loosely after the TV Game Show "Jeopardy" and was written in the HTML language used to write Internet Web Pages. This allows any instructor with a computer Web Browser and suitable video display equipment to use the game for computer-based classroom instruction.

The open, interactive nature of HTML allows for greater student participation and the Michigan Program has been using this game in its training for about one year. The Game has been well received by Michigan's mines.

Annual Refresher Training is required by law and covers materials most miners already know. Coming up with new ways of teaching "the same old thing" for 8 hours in one sitting is always a challenge. This game was produced to maintain trainee interest while accomplishing the training objectives.

The "Mine Safety Jepardy Game" (as well as other Program materials can be downloaded free of charge from the Program's Web site at the new address: "www.mine-safety.mtu.edu".

Barriers to Safe Employee Behavior

Your employees have been trained to identify and recognize hazards, so why do they continue to take chances? Is the reason simply that "these guys are just plain stupid"? Or am I as a manager helping to erect barriers to safe employee behavior? Careful examination of this issue can help you change unsafe employee behavior. A supervisor can start by asking: Are my employees rewarded for taking risks with their safety and health?

Obviously not, you say! But closer examination will most likely reveal that unsafe behavior in your facility is always rewarded in the short term, whether or not you intentionally hand out the kudos.

Take, for example, the case where a loader's brakes are not working as well as they should be. The loader operator reasons that if the loader is shut down mid-shift for repairs, production will stop, he/she and fellow employees (who will be very unhappy with his/her decision to be safe) will either be put on cleanup or sent home for the day, and the supervisor will also be very unhappy.

The conscientious employee decides to "wing it" with a less-than-desirable stopping capability until the end of the shift, inviting a potentially fatal accident to happen. The decision to "wing it" usually pays off by making him/her feel good because production is not interrupted and relations with the supervisor and fellow employees remain unfettered.

The notion that taking such risks pays off is further reinforced by the fact that your employees have done it many times in the past without getting hurt badly (similar to eating a jelly bean from a large jar of them in which one is cyanide-laced).

Can management remove these barriers to safe behavior? The answer is a clear yes. But, you ask: "what is the incentive for doing so?" Read the next article "Costs of Unsafe Behavior/Conditions" to help answer this question.

Let us assume that you, the supervisor, are convinced that unsafe behavior is very costly-as it truly is. Then what steps can you take to remove these barriers? Obviously the steps you take must eliminate the rewards for unsafe behavior. But how is this accomplished?

Eliminating rewards for unsafe behavior will take a conscious effort on your part. If you truly want employees to make safe decisions, you must attempt to understand the mental trauma they may experience when deciding to come to you with such concerns. Your awareness of this trauma should make it easier for you to express your genuine thanks. A genuine thank you and correction of the problem will go a long way toward ensuring the employee that safe behavior actually pays off.

The employee will surely read between the lines if you are displeased with his/her decision to be safe, and decisions to come to you with safety concerns will become much less frequent in the future. You have demonstrated to the employee that unsafe behavior pays off. Likewise if you exhibit favoritism toward employees who are willing to take risks.

Any suspicion that the employee is just a habitual complainer will also be detected by the employee and will reinforce the notion that unsafe behavior pays off. Trust between employer and employee are obviously essential to eliminate this barrier. As a manager or supervisor I must ask: "Can my employees fully trust that there will be no retribution, verbal or otherwise, for expressing their concerns to me? Have I been completely honest with my employees and can I expect them to be completely honest with me in return"?

Obviously overcoming some of the barriers to safe behavior will require careful planning. For example, do I have an alternate plan for keeping my workers busy without severely punishing them if production must be halted due to safety concerns? Is regularly-scheduled preventive maintenance performed on steering, brakes and other safety-related equipment to minimize the likelihood of work stoppages being required to make repairs? The bottom line is that changing my employee's behavior may require that I first change my own behavior toward my employees and begin to understand their concerns.

The Costs of Unsafe Conditions/Behavior

The following information on the costs of an accident summarizes information from Update No. 98-06 by Mike Gunter on the Eagle Insurance Group Inc. internet site address (http://www.eig.com).

If you have insurance, the costs of an accident include premiums to your insurer. These are initially based on your payroll and the average direct costs per worker to insure in your industry. An experience modification factor (EMF) takes into account your past claims. An insurer starts you out with an EMF of 1.0, but this value may, for example, change to 0.75 or 1.5 depending on whether you have less or more claims than the average in your industry. The EMF is a direct multiplier to your premium cost so your costs for insurance would be 75% or 150 % of the initial cost depending on your claims experience.

A company with a $500,000 annual payroll may be paying a premium of say $50,000 when the EMF is 1.0, $37,500 if the EMF decreases to 0.75 or $75,000 if the EMF increases to 1.5.

Your insurance usually only pays the direct costs of an accident including:

1. Bills associated with treatment, which can include doctor visits, physical therapy, diagnostic tests, and prescriptions.
2. Temporary wage replacement, or "time loss benefits" to the injured employee.
3. Permanent impairment awards in the event of permanent disability or death.

Indirect costs, though hidden, are real and are estimated to be at least four times the insured costs. Some of these are:

All of the above costs are part of your overhead costs. If you keep your overhead costs below those of your competitors, you can be more competive. Companies that do not control these costs are likely to go out of business soon.

In SSU Update No. 95-04 on the Eagle internet site, John Lyle expresses the costs of an incident (including increased insurance premium costs) in terms of how much of your production will be needed to cover them. A realistic profit margin for many businesses is 5 % (yours may be more or less). Based on this 5 % profit margin, a $10,000 accident cost would require $10,000 divided by 0.05 = $200,000 in gross product sales to cover the costs. The bottom line is that to remain competitive, safety and health must be a company value.

Loss of a valued employee and perhaps a trusted friend will severely impact your life and the lives of other friends and relatives. It should be noted that many lawyers are looking for opportunities to take on cases involving companies which may have the ability to pay large sums of money. Your insurance may or may not pay for such lawsuits. Documentation that you have been actively involved in providing a safe and healthy work environment is essential in providing a strong defense against criminal negligence charges and general liability lawsuits.

Winter Workshop Locations and Dates Set

Locations and dates for the 4^th Annual MSHA Winter workshops put on jointly by the Great Lakes District Council of the Holmes Safety Association, MSHA and the Michigan Mine Safety and Health Training Program are as follows:

1. Marquette, MI Holiday Inn, 1951 US 41 (906/225-1351) - Tuesday February 9, 1999

2. Gaylord, MI Treetop Sylvan Resort, 3962 Wilkinson Road (800/444-6711) - Thursday February 11, 1999

3. Ann Arbor MI Holiday Inn, 3600 Plymouth Road (735/769-9800) - Tuesday March 2, 1999.

4. Grand Rapids, MI Holiday Inn East, 3333 28^th St. SE, (616/949-9222) Thursday March 4, 1999

For more details and to register, contact Ken Cunningham, Michigan Gypsum Co., Phone -517/792-8734 ext. 15 or FAX - 517/792-8737.