welcome to another safety video brought
to you by the Virginia Department of
mines minals and energy today we want to
discuss with you the beginning of the
shift inspections carried out by the
certified Foreman in the work area
inspection carried out by every minor in
recent years investigations of serious
injury and fatal accidents across the
country have pointed to these
inspections as one of the primary Tools
in preventing injuries and fatalities
ensuring that these examinations are
done and done well is the first step as
a recognition and how to properly
perform these inspections should be key
elements of task training for Miners and
former today we are joined by Ralph
pingon a plant manager with Martin
marota materials and Eddie Boo the
overall site Foreman for this company
both are experienced certified former
and we appreciate having them with us
today to talk about their approach to
the training of their people people and
carrying out these important mindsight
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examinations we will start in the
secondary plant area Eddie tell us how
you prepare for and carry out your
beginning of the shift examination of
this area oh during the morning
pre-shift inspection you want to go
through and do a complete ride through
check for make sure no obstacles on the
on the yard all burms and signages in
place uh do a general out Overlook of
the uh plant and uh just making sure
nothing seems out of the ordinary uh
during that time uh you have the other
employees that are assigned to their
workplace uh areas they'll go through
and do their proper uh beginning to
shift examination as
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well as you know our Virginia mineral
mining regulations require all miners to
do workplace examinations prior to
starting work and frequently thereafter
you mentioned that in your opening Eddie
you want to talk a little more
specifically about how that works here
in the plan and yard area sure uh during
the uh pre-shift examination uh each
employee is uh signed uh the areas that
they will be for that day they need to
there's a checklist that they need to uh
abide by to make sure everything is in
place as far as guards
handrails um walkways free of
obstructions I mean it's a it's a
complete thorough lift uh here I have
Andy he's the uh secondary operator at
the site here and he's going to discuss
some of the things that he looks for
once he's doing uh his pre-shift
inspection as I make my way into the
plant I'm looking over here for any
rollers that may have fallen and we try
to get them back up because we don't
want them to fall and fall hit a truck
or hit somebody as I go into the plant
I'm looking for spillage of material if
it's anything major we try to get the
shovels or get the water hoses and get
that cleaned up in a prompt
manner I also have tunnels that I need
to go into and check the lighting in
there make sure all my lighting is
working working and in proper working
condition if it's not I contact the lead
man immediately and we get those bubs
replaced or contact electrician to have
it checked
out uh I'm also looking at the Conduit
on my
equipment down at ground level and up
above um if I can reach and touch it
I'll grab it to make sure everything is
good and tight
um I'm also uh looking at the guarding
on uh my conveyors and on my screens any
type of moving equipment make sure
everything is good and tight make sure
nothing has broken loose throughout the
day of
operation and
um just in general keep an eye on things
throughout the day once you start the
plan up you have a a constant vibration
and wear and tear anything could break
loose throughout the day and you just
want to keep an eye on everything if you
see something that is broken contact
your uh lead man immediately we'll shut
down operations and we'll do what we can
to get it fixed in a quick
manner primary Crusher Dump location
should be provided with the means of
communication between the crusher
operator and the hall truck drivers this
might be lights or a horn or even radios
so the truck driver knows when to dump
into the crusher Eddie tell me how you
go about training the miners who work in
this area well Paul during the uh
workplace inspections the guys are
trying to uh go through and look at all
the catwalks uh the Integrity of the
equipment that they're uh entitled to
run and the task that needed to be
complete during that time it may take
day days weeks months in order for that
to be completed just everything doesn't
uh doesn't happen during one shift or
another shift and to be certain that
everybody uh understands and stays
focused on the job at hand it it takes a
little longer than normal to complete
certain tasks each one has the form they
need to fill out uh during their uh
pre-shift examination going through
you're checking handrails cat walks
looking for any loose electrical
anything out of the ordinary that
doesn't look right for that day so for
this area the Foreman's beginning of the
shift examination would include the
burns the stop block the general road
conditions and any other conditions
around here that would create a hazard
to the
[Laughter]
miners Ground Control is a key element
in training of all miners working in the
pit and the certified miners inspection
Ralph how do you typic handle your
beginning of the shift examination of
General pit areas Paul have pre-shift
inspection examination of the pit area
roads will'll come in check all BMS
roads Hall Roads all high walls ramps
and the work areas at a distance in the
plant as far as blasting when we have
blasting set up all of that's
corresponded to visitors and noted at
the office everybody stops at office
signs in has a sight specific training
and then they proceed or either they're
escorted how do you train your folks who
work in the pit to do their work area
inspections well Paul the employees in
the pit area they're tryed to inspect
their area as the day progresses CU all
things change high wall configuration
change and if they see anything deemed
unsafe they'll notifi a foran on
myself and during the process they do
workplace examinations a sheet form they
fill like at beginning of the shift and
if anything changes during the shift
they let us know if Hall Roads need
improvements Stone on them or extra
water we hope our conversation is added
to your awareness of the importance in
carrying out beginning of shift and work
area inspections and the training
necessary to ensure they're done
properly hopefully you will take a look
at your own practices and training and
see if improvements can be made at your
own operation
we want to thank Martin Merida materials
for their help in making this video
especially Ralph Eddie and Andy for
sharing their practices with us we hope
in some way that we have contributed to
the safety of your
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Workforce