Safety Norms: Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering

1Purpose, Scope, and Safety Principles

These norms set minimum safety expectations for coursework, laboratory exercises, field visits, and any practical work connected with mining and mineral processing engineering. They apply to students, instructors, technicians, visiting engineers, and contractors who enter mines, pilot plants, processing plants, laboratories, or tailings areas under the program or its partners.

Safety decisions follow a fixed order. Eliminate the hazard where possible. If that is not possible, substitute a safer method, isolate people from the hazard, apply engineering controls, then use administrative controls such as procedures and supervision. Personal protective equipment is the last line of defense. No task proceeds when the hazard is not understood, and anyone may stop work when conditions are unsafe.

• MANDATORY: No person enters an active mine, plant, or tailings area without the site induction and the authorization that site requires.
• MANDATORY: Every activity has a documented hazard assessment completed before it starts.
• RECOMMENDED: Hold a short prestart talk at the beginning of each shift or laboratory session to confirm hazards, controls, and emergency arrangements.
• JURISDICTION DEPENDENT: Mine safety law, plant codes, and dangerous goods rules differ by location. Verify current versions with the competent authority.

2Roles, Competence, and Accountability

The program head or site owner holds overall accountability for safety arrangements. A designated safety lead maintains the risk register, approves permits, and confirms that controls are in place. Supervisors plan work, check competence, and stop unsafe tasks. Each person is responsible for their own actions, for following approved procedures, and for reporting hazards.

Competence is task specific. Completing a general course does not authorize someone to operate a shovel, adjust a mill, or handle cyanide. Authorization must be written, linked to a named machine, process, or area, and renewed when the site requires it.

• MANDATORY: Only persons holding current, documented authorization for a specific machine, process, or area may operate it.
• MANDATORY: Students and trainees work only under direct supervision of a competent person when using blasting, hoisting, heavy mobile equipment, high pressure systems, or reagent handling.
• MANDATORY: Blasting, explosives handling, and underground ground support work are performed only by persons licensed or certified where the law requires it.
• RECOMMENDED: Maintain a competency matrix listing each person, each authorized task, the training completed, and the refresher interval set by the site.
• VERIFY: Certification and licensing requirements vary by jurisdiction and must be confirmed with competent authorities.

3Course-Specific Hazards and Risk Assessment

Mining and mineral processing combine ground instability, mobile equipment, explosives, electrical energy, rotating machinery, high pressure water, chemicals, dust, noise, and large volumes of stored material. Hazards change with each setting, so every activity needs its own assessment. A practical method rates likelihood and consequence on a five point scale, multiplies the two, and assigns controls proportionate to the result. These ratings are local judgments that the safety lead must review, not published standard values.

The assessment must name the hazard, the people exposed, the existing controls, and the additional controls needed. Common hazards in this subject include the following.

• Ground failure and rockfall in pits, benches, stopes, and drifts. Control with geotechnical review, scaling, ground support, and exclusion zones below unstable faces.
• Mobile equipment collision and rollover involving haul trucks, loaders, dozers, and drill rigs. Control with traffic plans, segregated pedestrian routes, spotters, and seat belts.
• Crushers, conveyors, mills, screens, and pumps. Hazards include entanglement, crushing, and stored energy. Control with fixed guards, emergency stops, and lock out.
• Dust containing silica or metals, and diesel exhaust in underground workings. Control with ventilation, wet methods, and sampling by a competent person.
• Reagents such as cyanide, strong acids, caustic, and flotation chemicals. Control with segregation, compatibility checks, current safety data sheets, and containment.
• Tailings and water hazards including dam or embankment failure, seepage, slope instability, and drowning in ponds. Control with inspection, monitoring, and restricted access.
• High voltage systems, arc flash, and energized conductors. Only qualified electrical personnel work on them, after isolation and proving dead.
• Noise, vibration, heat, and cold stress. Control with measurement, hearing protection, and scheduled rest periods.
• Confined spaces such as hoppers, thickeners, sumps, and bins. Control with an entry permit, atmospheric testing, and a trained attendant.

4Preventive Controls and Safe Work Practices

A permit to work system controls high-risk tasks. The permit records the task, location, hazards, isolation points, required controls, atmospheric tests where relevant, and the names of the issuer and the receiver. Work does not begin until the permit is signed and the area is confirmed safe. Permits end when the task is complete or the shift ends, and they must be cancelled immediately if conditions change.

Maintenance and clearing work carry the highest fatality risk in this field because stored energy often remains after equipment appears stopped. Isolation must be verified by attempting to start or operate the equipment, and by checking for residual pressure, charge, rotation, or material movement.

• MANDATORY: Isolate and lock out all energy sources before maintenance or clearing blockages. Apply personal locks and tags. Never clear a blocked chute, hopper, or screen while any part of the system is energized.
• MANDATORY: No person stands under suspended loads, within the swing radius of a shovel or excavator, or in front of a haul truck during tipping.
• MANDATORY: Explosives are handled, stored, and fired only under approved procedures by authorized persons. Students never handle detonators, primers, or blasting accessories.
• MANDATORY: Reagents are stored in labeled, compatible containers with secondary containment. Acids and cyanide are never stored or mixed together, because contact can release hydrogen cyanide gas.
• MANDATORY: Confined space entry requires a permit, atmospheric testing before and during entry, a trained attendant outside, and a rescue arrangement that does not rely on the entrant.
• MANDATORY: Pressure systems are depressurized and drained before opening, and this step is confirmed on a gauge or by test.
• RECOMMENDED: Complete a prestart walk around on mobile equipment and record defects. Tag out any machine with a defect that affects braking, steering, lighting, or guarding.
• RECOMMENDED: Inspect benches, slopes, and ground after blasting, heavy rain, or seismic activity before anyone enters the area.
• RECOMMENDED: In laboratories, perform acid digestions and volatile reagent work in a functioning fume cupboard, and avoid working alone with hazardous chemistry.

5Equipment, Environment, Information, and Protective Safeguards

Personal protective equipment is selected from the site hazard assessment and the rating given by the manufacturer. A minimum set for most mine and plant areas usually includes a hard hat, safety footwear, eye protection, hearing protection, and high visibility clothing. Respiratory protection, chemical resistant gloves, face shields, and fall arrest equipment are added by task. Equipment must be inspected before use, fitted correctly, and replaced when damaged. Applicable standards differ by jurisdiction and must be checked locally.

Environmental protection is part of safety. Tailings, process water, dust, and reagent releases can harm workers and nearby communities. Discharges and emissions are controlled by permits in most places, and conditions of those permits form part of the site rules.

• MANDATORY: Fixed guards remain in place on all moving parts whenever equipment runs. Guards are removed only under lock out by authorized persons.
• MANDATORY: Spills of reagents, process liquor, or hydrocarbons must not enter the ground or drains. Spill kits are placed at each reagent point, and users are trained in their use.
• MANDATORY: No person approaches a tailings embankment edge, decant structure, or pond without written authorization and a designated observer.
• RECOMMENDED: Maintain dust suppression on haul roads and crushing circuits, and sample airborne dust and noise at intervals set by a competent person.
• MANDATORY: Process control systems, PLC programs, and mine planning data are accessible only through authorized accounts. Default passwords are changed, credentials are not shared, and suspicious access is reported immediately.
• RECOMMENDED: Keep geological models, personal data, and commercially sensitive information within the access rules set by the program or site, and store safety data sheets where all users can find them.

6Incident Reporting, Emergency Response, and Escalation

Every incident, near miss, and unsafe condition is reported immediately to the supervisor or safety lead. A near miss is an event that could have caused injury, damage, or release but did not. Reporting near misses gives early warning of weak controls, and honest reporting must never lead to blame.

Emergency arrangements must be understood before work begins. Each site has an emergency plan that covers assembly points, communication methods, first aid, and rescue. Emergency services are contacted through the site emergency number. Do not enter a hazardous atmosphere, flooded area, or unstable ground to rescue someone unless trained, equipped, and authorized for that rescue.

• MANDATORY: Stop work, make the area safe, and call the emergency number. Provide first aid only within training limits.
• MANDATORY: Preserve the scene for investigation after casualties are attended, unless doing so creates further risk.
• MANDATORY: Report injuries, dangerous occurrences, and environmental releases to the competent authority within the timeframe set by local law, which must be confirmed locally.
• MANDATORY: Escalate to the program head immediately after any fatality, serious injury, uncontrolled release, tailings concern, or control failure that affects other people.
• RECOMMENDED: Run emergency drills at a frequency set by the site, and record the lessons learned and actions assigned.

7Records, Training, Inspection, and Review

Records show that controls exist and allow the program to learn from events. Keep permits, hazard assessments, inspection reports, training and authorization records, calibration records, incident reports, and environmental monitoring results. Retain them for the period required by law or local policy, and make them available to the safety lead and competent authorities on request.

Safety performance improves when findings lead to action. Review the risk register after every incident, process change, new equipment installation, or change in site conditions, and also at a scheduled interval set locally.

• MANDATORY: Training covers site hazards, applicable controls, emergency actions, and the specific equipment or process before the trainee starts work.
• MANDATORY: Lifting gear, pressure vessels, electrical equipment, and gas detectors are inspected and tested by competent persons at the intervals required by law or the manufacturer.
• RECOMMENDED: Track leading indicators such as near misses reported, inspections completed, and corrective actions closed on time.
• RECOMMENDED: Review this document with local procedures at a set interval, and update it when law, standards, or site conditions change.

Implementation checklist

• Confirm site induction and task authorization are current before entering any area.
• Complete a documented hazard assessment for each activity before work starts.
• Verify that the permit is signed and that all energy sources are locked out before maintenance.
• Keep fixed guards in place and test emergency stops before starting equipment.
• Stay out of swing radii, suspended load zones, and tailings edges unless authorized.
• Wear the PPE specified for the task and inspect it before use.
• Store and handle reagents in labeled, compatible, contained storage with spill kits nearby.
• Report every incident, near miss, and unsafe condition to the supervisor immediately.
• Know the emergency assembly point and the site emergency call method.
• Verify local laws, standards, and manufacturer instructions with competent authorities or qualified professionals.