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Why Do Haul Truck Fatal Accidents Keep Occurring?

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Abstract

Powered haulage continues to be a large safety concern for the mining industry, accounting for approximately 50% of the mining fatal accidents every year. Among these fatal accidents, haul-truck-related accidents are the most common, with 6 of 28 and 6 of 27 fatal accidents occurring in 2017 and 2018, respectively. To better understand why these accidents continue to occur and what can be done to prevent them, researchers reviewed the 91 haul-truck-related fatal accidents that occurred in the USA from 2005 to 2018 and performed bow-tie analyses using the final reports published by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The analyses explore the context of the accidents with a focus on the initiating event, event outcome, hazards present, and possible preventative and mitigative controls. Overall, the vast majority of the accidents resulted in a haul truck colliding with the environment, and the majority of these events were initiated by loss of situational awareness or loss of control. The majority of the hazards were related to design and organizational controls. The results of this study suggest a need to investigate operator decision-making and organizational controls and to focus on improving design and operation controls such as mine design and operational procedures.

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Notes

  1. The term accident is used here and throughout the paper to describe an unexpected event with a negative or unwanted outcome that caused harm

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15236, USA

    Jennica L. Bellanca & Timothy J. Orr

  2. University of Queensland, Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, Brisbane, Australia

    Margaret E. Ryan & Robin J. Burgess-Limerick

Authors
  1. Jennica L. Bellanca
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  2. Margaret E. Ryan
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  3. Timothy J. Orr
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  4. Robin J. Burgess-Limerick
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Contributions

Bellanca designed and directed the project. Bellanca, Ryan, and Orr performed the qualitative analysis with methodological support from Burgess-Limerick. Bellanca primarily wrote the manuscript and created the figures, tables, and graphs with input from Ryan, Orr, and Burgess-Limerick. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennica L. Bellanca.

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The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mention of company names or products does not constitute endorsement by NIOSH.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Bellanca, J.L., Ryan, M.E., Orr, T.J. et al. Why Do Haul Truck Fatal Accidents Keep Occurring?. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 38, 1019–1029 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-021-00410-1

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