Open Collections

Human Factors : Can we learn from avalanche incidents and apply the findings to tailings and mine waste?

Tailings and Mine Waste Conference (2019 : Vancouver, B.C.); University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

Year in, year out, experienced and qualified groups succumb to avalanche hazard, despite advances in equipment and technology. Unfortunately, and sometimes tragically, these groups learn lessons the hard way. What leads to the decisions that these groups make, that ultimately turn out to be poor decisions? Are there any lessons for tailings and waste management? How do our tailings and management systems stand up if we take those lessons learned into mine waste management? Perhaps, more importantly, can we avoid the same pitfalls and issues when it comes to making risk decisions for our facilities? This paper presents several ideas and terms from avalanche incidents and learnings and places them in the context of tailings and mine waste. These ideas and terms include: judgement; group decision making; speaking up; accountability in group decision making, termed social facilitation; familiarity, which is a form of complacency; social pressures, such as acceptance; and the expert halo. Current guidelines for tailings management systems and roles and responsibilities are audited and evaluated against the learnings and findings from avalanche events and a reality check presented. Finally, some author thoughts and recommendations are provided. This paper is intended to open eyes to learnings from other sorts of safety incidents and raise some ideas. The paper may pose more questions than provide answers.

Text

2024-02-15

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87448

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/