TRAP

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TRAP

• Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention

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TRAP

• TRAP stands for Take Responsibility for
  Accident Prevention.
• The TRAP program is an employee-driven program of
  identifying, evaluating, and eliminating hazards
  in the workplace.
• Its a program that involves both the miner and
  the manager.

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How are traps set in the workplace?
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TRAPS may be set by

• Normal mining practice
• A 21-year-old oiler was doing cleanup work next
  to an energized conveyor belt. He noticed some
  built-up material under one of the return rollers.

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21 year old caught in conveyor
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TRAPS may be set by

• The workers
• A welder and two other workers were installing a
  pipe as part of a new construction project in a
  plant. They were working on a platform 33 ft off
  the ground. They had removed a section of the
  walkway, 2ft x 4ft, to install the pipe.

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43 year old falls through platform
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TRAPS may be set by

• Changing conditions
• A foreman was in the process of thawing out a
  platform truck scale by using a hand held propane
  tank. He had placed the tank with torch under
  the scale platform and covered the scale with
  tarps to retain the heat. He returned later that
  day to add another propane tank.

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38 year old dies in explosion
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TRAPS may be set by

• The environment
• A bulldozer operator was working his dozer next
  to a 120 highwall. During the week the
  operation had experienced heavy rain and some
  freezing temperatures.

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48 year old covered by falling material
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TRAPS may be set

• Due to poor communications
• A worker was helping move some rail cars at a
  crushed stone operation. The rubber-tired
  tractor was used to move the cars. The coupler
  between the rail cars and the tractor had
  disengaged. He stepped between the tractor and
  rail cars to reopen the couplers.

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63 year old crushed between rail cars
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TRAPS may be set

• Through design
• A worker was helping a coworker clean and drain a
  paddle log washer at the end of the day. The
  drains had become clogged with material and he
  entered the log washer to remove the material
  from the drains.

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51 year old caught in machine
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One Study Results

• 1 Major injury
• 10 Minor injuries
• 30 Property damage accidents
• 600 Incidents with no apparent injury/property
  damage

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The 1-10-30-600 Ratio

• The relationships in the ratio indicate quite
  clearly how foolish it is to direct our total
  effort at the relatively few events ending in
  serious or disabling injury when there are 630
  opportunities to identify TRAPS that provide a
  much larger basis for more effective control and
  elimination of hazards.

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• In an article titled Fatal Accidents on the rise
  in 1997 A Cause for Concern
• Near misses need to be considered as warnings,
  analyzed, and used to prevent more serious
  accidents from occurring.
• Near misses are incidents which usually indicate
  the presence of a hazard - or in other words a
  trap.

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• Traps come and go in the workplace daily,
  depending on the work activities and the
  employees.
• Some are simple, such as a cord stretched across
  a walkway.
• Some are more complex, such as a poorly designed
  set of controls on a mining machine.

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• Given just the right combination of inattention,
  timing, and bad luck, a trap can spring its teeth
  with serious results.
• Whats often discouraging is that, during many
  accident investigations, we find that the hazard,
  or trap, had existed prior to the accident (even
  involved in a near miss), but went unreported and
  uncorrected.

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Why?

• The question is, Why did the trap remain until
  an accident/incident happened?
• Who had the opportunity to identify and correct
  the TRAP?
• How many near misses had occurred in the past?

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Common Reasons Given

• Poor understanding of the importance of reporting
• Its someone elses job - not my responsibility
• Production pressures - dont have time
• Fear of discipline
• Concern about personal accident history
• Dont want to get involved

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Common Reasons Given

• Fear of medical treatment
• Knock one out of the safety incentive program
• Desire to prevent work interruption
• Concern about relationship with others
• Peer pressure
• No system in place to report or collect near miss
  situations
• No one cares

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• There are many other reasons employees dont come
  forward with information concerning hazards or
  near miss situations.
• If only employees could understand that near miss
  situations present the best opportunity to get
  involved in accident prevention.

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• Near misses are free opportunities to identify,
  evaluate, and eliminate existing traps in the
  workplace.
• Employees are in the best position to recommend
  solutions to the problems when identified.
• They often know how to disarm the trap
  situation, if asked to do so.

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• MSHA looks to management to provide a safe and
  healthful work environment for the miner.
• But we should not forget that the Act intended
  for all employees to be involved and assist in
  making the workplace safer.

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The Mine Act

• On the first page of the Act, Section 2, Congress
  declared (e) the operators of such mines, with
  the assistance of the miners, have the primary
  responsibility to prevent the existence of such
  conditions and practices in such mines that
  would result in death or serious injury.
• The intent was that management would be assisted
  by the miners in providing a safe workplace.

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• The emphasis of this program is not on analyzing
  accidents which have already happened, but on
  capturing near miss information or identifying
  existing traps which have not produced injury or
  lost time.
• That is not to say it is not important to
  properly analyze and correct reportable accidents.

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• Incident analysis should always take place.
• The purpose of this program is to encourage
  employees to report near miss situations or
  existing traps along with helping management
  find reasonable and economical solutions to
  problems.

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• The key to the programs success is to get all
  the employees involved.
• This starts by addressing the barriers to
  reporting near miss events and creating
  incentives for identifying traps.
• Companies need to encourage employees to be
  TRAP hunters and find ways to dismantle any
  traps found.

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• Old incentive programs which reward employees for
  not having accidents must evolve into programs
  which reward employees for reporting near miss
  situations and existing traps along with
  recommendations to eliminate the hazard.
• Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention is
  a pro-active program.

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• Trap involves the worker, the supervisor,
  management, and even MSHA.
• The goal to make the workplace safer for
  everyone.

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Questions to consider

• What are common traps at your mining
  operations?
• What methods are used to identify traps in the
  workplace?
• Are you responsible for identifying and removing
  traps?
• Do supervisors have responsibility to identify
  and correct traps?

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More Questions

• How can trap hunting benefit you?
• How can trap hunting work at your company?

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What do I need to get started?

• Establish a program
• KISS (Keep it simple sweetheart)
• Provide TRAP training for employees
• Develop a method of reporting traps
• Develop a procedure for evaluating solutions
• Establish benefit of reporting
• Recognize those who participate
• Share results

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TRAP Committee

• Organize a TRAP committee made up of management
  and labor to review and evaluate trap
  suggestions which are submitted.

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TRAP Buster of the Month

• Recognition
• Award/Reward
• Send suggestion to MSHAs Accident Reduction
  Program

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Summary

• Remember The overall objective and goal of the
  program should be to identify and eliminate
  workplace traps before they have a chance to
  snap shut on a worker.

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Additional Topics Addressed in the TRAP Program

• PowerPoint programs
• Task Training
• Supervisory Responsibility
• Miners Rights and Responsibilities