Footwear plays an important role in worker safety. Work boots with safety toes are often utilized at mine sites to protect workers from hazards. Increasingly, mining operations require metatarsal guards in addition to safety toe protection in boots. While these guards provide additional protection, the impact of metatarsal guards on gait are unknown. This study aimed to measure the effects of 4 safety work boots, steel toe, and steel toe with metatarsal protection in wader- and hiker-style boots, on level and inclined walking gait characteristics, during ascent and descent. A total of 10 participants completed this study. A motion capture system measured kinematics that allowed for the calculation of key gait parameters. Results indicated that gait parameters changed due to incline, similar to previous literature. Wader-style work boots reduced ankle range of motion when ascending an incline. Hip, knee, and ankle ranges of motion were also reduced during descent for this style of boot. Wader-style boots with metatarsal guards led to the smallest ankle range of motion when descending an inclined walkway. From these results, it is likely that boot style affects gait parameters and may impact a miner’s risk for slips, trips, or falls.

As with other high-energy beaches, those of North Carolina harbor a diverse fauna of kalyptorhynch turbellarians, and most appear to be new to science. Here, we describe Lehardyia alleithoros, a new kalyptorhynch turbellarian of the Karkinorhynchidae, from 3 high-energy beach sites in North Carolina. We also report an apparent range extension for Carcharodorhynchus flavidus Brunet, 1967. These observations bring the total number of kalyptorhynch turbellarians reported from the marine interstitial environment of North Carolina to five.

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Ergonomics is the scientific discipline that investigates the interactions between humans and systems to optimize both human and system performance for worker safety, health, and productivity. Ergonomics is frequently involved either in the design of emerging technologies or in strategies to alleviate unanticipated human performance problems with emerging technologies. This manuscript explores several such emerging issues and opportunities in the context of the mining sector. In mining, the equipment, tools, and procedures have changed considerably and continue to change. Body-worn technology provides a number of opportunities to advance the safety and health of miners, while teleoperation and autonomous mining equipment stand to benefit significantly from ergonomics applications in other sectors. This manuscript focuses on those issues and opportunities that can impact the safety and health of miners in the near term.

A large proportion of non-fatal slips, trips, and falls (STFs) at surface mining facilities are associated with mobile equipment. Ingress and egress from mobile equipment can pose a fall risk to mobile equipment operators. The objective of this study was to determine mobile equipment operators' views of STF risks from mobile equipment, and to ascertain what factors, tasks, and conditions they perceive as contributing to these risks. A thematic analysis of 23 individual interviews and 2 group interviews was conducted, with 10 overarching themes identified from the transcripts. Mobile equipment operators indicated that being unable to see their feet or the ladder rungs during descent and the presence of contaminants on the ladders caused by normal operation make egress more dangerous than ingress. The flexible rails and high heights of the lower rungs identified over 40 years ago as issues for mobile equipment operators still pose a perceived STF risk. Further, the requirements of routine maintenance tasks such as oil and filter changes, greasing, and cleaning windows pose fall risks due to inadequate access and the need to carry supplies up and down equipment ladders. In addition to the mobile equipment, hazardous ground conditions and insufficient lighting were found to be key issues around the mobile equipment and in parking areas. The findings of this work indicate that mobile equipment operators feel at risk for STFs due to the design and condition of their equipment, and would like to see ladders replaced with safer stairways as the primary ingress/egress system.

In the mining industry, slips and falls are the second leading cause of non-fatal injuries. Footwear is the primary defence against a slip; consequently, the condition of the footwear outsole is critical to maintaining slip resistance. Currently, there is no published method that can be used to determine when the outsole no longer affords adequate slip protection. Moreover, quantifying the condition of the outsole through the measurement of outsole features can be tedious. This article introduces a new method for the quantification of boot outsole wear. Using a handheld 3D scanner, boot scans can be taken quickly and the developed models used to measure outsole features. This method also accounts for the bending of the boot due to normal wear, which may otherwise introduce erroneous measures. When compared to measurements with a traditional handheld calliper, this new method offers more flexibility in terms of data collection, accounts for other types of boot transformations, and is more efficient to use over multiple measurement periods with no statistically significant differences in measurement.

Federal regulations require refuge alternatives (RAs) to be installed in underground coal mines. RAs provide miners safe shelter from life-threatening environments during a mine emergency when escape is not possible. Built-in-place (BIP) RAs require ventilation systems that supply breathable air to occupants. Relief valves provide critical functions to the ventilation system by limiting pressure within the RA, allowing ventilation air to exit while preventing contamination ingress, and protecting occupants from external pressure due to mine explosions. As such, relief valves for BIP RAs must be developed and tested to ensure pressure relief, adequate airflow, and the ability to withstand a 103-kPa (15-psi) blast overpressure with a duration of 0.2 seconds. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has published research on relief valve opening pressures and airflow rates. However, the ability of RA relief valves to withstand a survivable mine explosion must be demonstrated. As such, NIOSH researchers tested the ability of RA relief valves to withstand overpressure representative of a survivable mine explosion. For this, seven relief valves were subjected to 103-kPa (15-psi) target overpressure waveforms, produced using methane-air explosions within a fixed-volume enclosure. All seven relief valves survived the overpressure testing, maintained normal performance, and did not incur any critical component deformation. One instance of valve leakage was observed during the tests. This paper presents the methodology and results of testing the ability of RA relief valves to withstand a survivable mine explosion. Information in this publication can be used for evaluating relief valve design and determining parameters critical to their ability to reliably withstand a survivable mine explosion and protect RA occupants. Research presented in this paper is applicable to testing and improving RA designs for underground coal mines, and could also be extended to similar applications and industries involving explosion testing.

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