Jump to content

pmccarthy

Members
  • Posts

    2,559
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Posts posted by pmccarthy

  1. 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%.
  2. 1 minute ago, facthunter said:

    IF you take the BAD 2 out mining is the worst of what's left in rate/man hours.. Nev

    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. 

    • Like 2
  3. 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

    • Informative 1
  4. 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. 

    • Informative 3
  5. 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.

     

    • Like 1
    • Informative 2
  6. Nothing wrong with reducing usage, I agree. But setting impossible targets does no one any good. Unfortunately any debate quickly gets political. For example, I see more good science and common sense in the discussions of Peta Credlin and Malcolm Roberts than any of the current government. That makes me impossible to talk to, I guess.

    • Haha 1
    • Sad 1
  7. 2 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

    Evidence for that? Science looks to be on just stop oil's side..

    I would argue that public opinion may be, but science is certainly not. The consequences of "stop oil" are horrendous, but it will not happen because it cannot happen.

    • Informative 1
  8. First Person View (FPV) drones have changed warfare in Ukraine. They may end the world as we know it! 
    Military technology leaks out into civil society. Bad actors get access to high-powered rifles and machine guns. It will be even easier to get hold of FPV drones in future. You can send them 10, 20 or more km from anywhere to attack someone you don't like. Perhaps a business rival or political opponent. If the military payloads (explosives) are hard to come by, there are plenty of ways to make your own. Society will descend into chaos, and it will be impossible to police the menace. This problem is just around the corner.

    • Sad 1
×
×
  • Create New...