A study of the deformation of the surrounding rock and coal pillars near a fault under the influence of mining is conducted on a physical model for the design of coal pillars to support and maintain the roofs of adjacent fault roadways. This research is based on the 15101 mining face in the Baiyangling Coal Mine, Shanxi, China, and uses simulation tests similar to digital speckle test technology to analyse the displacement, strain and vertical stress fields of surrounding rocks near faults to determine the influence of the coal pillar width. The results are as follows. The surrounding rock of the roadway roof fails to form a balance hinge for the massive rock mass. The vertical displacement, vertical strain and other deformation of the surrounding rock near the fault increase steeply as the coal pillar width decreases. The steep increase in deformation corresponds to a coal pillar width of 10 m. When the coal pillar width is 7.5 m, the pressure on the surrounding rock near the footwall of the fault suddenly increases, while the pressure on the hanging wall near the fault increases by only 0.35 MPa. The stress of the rock mass of the hanging wall is not completely shielded by the fault, and part of the load disturbance is still transmitted to the hanging wall via friction. The width of the fault coal pillars at the 15101 working face is determined to be 7.5 m, and the monitoring data verify the rationality of the fault coal pillars.