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pmccarthy

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pmccarthy last won the day on March 15

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  1. pmccarthy

    Brain Teaser

    As this is a brain teaser and not a knowledge quiz, I will say The Longest Day.
  2. Onetrack... 1974 From my scrap book..
  3. It also varies a lot year to year. The mining industry deaths include vehicle accidents anywhere on the lease including access roads. You might have only four or five total fatalities across Australia one year and a dozen the next.
  4. We did a risk analysis for one mine site once, the biggest risk was an aircraft accident for the commute crew. Measured as likelihood and severity.
  5. That is the difference between perception and reality.
  6. Many mines do drug and alcohol screening. That alone must make a big difference.
  7. And as for injuries, teh ABS data for 2021-22 is: In 2020-21, the most common industries where men experienced a work-related injury or illness in the last 12 months were: Construction - 17%. Public administration and safety - 12%. Transport, postal and warehousing - 11%. And for women the most common industries were: Health care and social assistance - 27%. Education and training - 14%. Accommodation and food services - 12%.
  8. True. But twice as dangerous a as desk job is still not very dangerous. I call it one of the safest industries because it is one of those bottom five, quite distinct statistically from the two unsafe industries.
  9. Australian Worker fatalities by industry of employer, 2022 Industry of employer Fatalities (count) Fatalities (rate per m manhours) Transport, postal and warehousing 67 9.5 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 44 14.7 Construction 27 2.2 Public administration and safety 11 1.2 Manufacturing 10 1.2 Mining 7 2.4 Administrative and support services 6 1.4
  10. Facthunter - do you mean airleg mining? I don't have current stats for airleg mining. But mining is one of Australia's safest industries., has been for a couple of decades. OME - Re the geology - the rock at Ballarat is Ordovician sediment. It is slates, shales and sandstone, but quite strongly weathered to weaken it. There are many faults, some known as "leatherjackets" because they look like leather. The rock is weak and broken compared to most of the mines I have worked on, even others in Central Victoria. It would not be safe to stand under unsupported ground, so the miners work forward putting in rockbolts and mesh from a safe position. That is, you stand under the mesh while boring the rockbolt holes and installing the mesh out ahead. It is a highly skilled business.
  11. The management of the Ballarat gold mine is accused by unions of negligence in the death of a miner. They say that airleg mining is a cost cutting exercise. I was involved in setting up the Ballarat mine and running it, until about ten years ago. I also worked as an airleg miner when I was young. it is a more hazardous method than mechanised mining but is still used in many places, though gradually being phased out. At Ballarat the environmental activists have stalled the development of more space in the tailings dam. Airleg mining allows more selective mining so that the amount of waste rock, hence tailings, can by cut to one third or less. It is the only way to keep operating with very limited tailings space. So it is more environmentally acceptable than the safer mechanised method. I have no connection with the mine and no knowledge of their decisions. But it seems to have been a choice between shutting down, with loss of jobs, or using airleg mining. People outside the industry react to mining accidents with horror. But they are rare. Road accidents occur daily and we seem to accept them as inevitable. This one seems to me like the environmentalist who demands that roadside trees be preserved. Then someone hits one and is killed. It is an unintended consequence, usually driven by people who do not understand or take responsibility for what they are demanding.
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