Determination of working conditions with an emphasison occupational health and safety at mineral and coalpreparation plants

The development of mechanization, which started with the industrial revolution, continued to increase day by day, and as a result, the safety of people who use and manage the machines has become even more important. As a result, the development of technology has not only decreased the work load on the workers, but also increased the risks they could face. Therefore, investigating and preventing the causes of these increased risks has great importance. According to the International Labor Organization, 1,200,000 people losing their lives due to occupational accidents and occupational diseases every year. Additionally; 250,000,000 people are injured and 160,000,000 people are suffering from occupational diseases every year. Statistics shows that number and seriousness of the job accidents are increasing day by day. Improved working environment in terms of health and safety is a prerequisite for working more efficiently. For the developing countries, occupational health and safety are among the most effective factors on the social progress. According to several sources, the total cost of work accidents and occupational diseases in industrialized countries varies between 1% and 3% of the Gross National Product of the countries concerned. When we look at our country from this point of view, it is predicted that the total cost related to work accidents and occupational diseases are up to 4,000,000,000 TL per year. DETERMINATION OF WORKING CONDITIONS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY AT MINERAL AND COAL PREPARATION PLANTS xx Due to its nature, mining is among the sectors where accident and death occur most frequently. Although only 1% of the existing workforce in the World works in the mines, 8% of serious accidents throughout all sectors occur solely in the mines. Mines are suffering from severe loss of life due to the disaster-related events associated with both problems of occupational health and safety practices as well as constantly changing work environments. According to 2016 statistics of MİGEM, after the cement raw materials, coal took second place with approximately 11% share in mine production list of Turkey. Benefits such as the beneficial use of coal resources at the acceptable level and the protection of the environment can be achieved through coal preparation. However, past statistics shows that there are risk factors such as noise, chemical work, etc., and related accidents that seriously affect the health and safety of workers are present in coal preparation processes. For this reason, necessary precautions must be taken in terms of occupational health and safety in mineral processing, especially coal preparation, plants in our country. According to abovementioned points, it was aimed to determine working standards in terms of occupational health and safety in mineral processing and coal washing plants within the scope of this thesis. The work carried out in this context consisting of two main chapters. In the first chapter; information about definition of occupational health and safety, its historical development in our country and in the World, the importance of occupational health and safety, and also definition, reasons, investigation of industrial accidents and occupational diseases were presented. Examples of risk concepts and 13 different risk assessment methods are given. Additionally, information on the organization of occupational health and safety in our country, legal regulations, national occupational health and safety policies and objectives were also provided. In the point of detailing the risk analysis study, statics of industrial accident and occupation diseases occurred from 2007 to 2015 in Turkey obtained from Social Security Institution, as well as the data about fatal accidents in mines from 2008 to 2016 in Turkey were presented in detail. According to the statistics; between 2007 and 2015, 1.079.184 work accidents occurred and 11,205 workers have lost their lives in said accidents in our country. 1.03% of the insured who had a work accident lost their lives. Again, 5.176 people were admitted to occupational diseases and 23 people lost their lives due to occupational diseases between 2007 and 2015. 0.44% of people who have contracted the occupational disease have lost their lives. These data have been analyzed according to the years, gender, number of occupational accidents and occupational diseases. In the mines in Turkey, 989 employees lost their lives in the workplace accidents between 2008 and 2016. The variation of the accidents in the mines according to years are also presented. Risk analysis studies were carried out in a coal preparation plant belonging to a private company operating in Soma region of Manisa province, Turkey in line with the objective and aim of the thesis. Between 2011 and 2016, 3,983 people were involved in work accidents in both underground and surface sections of the mine and preparation plant, which was connected to the mine. Only in the surface sections of the mine, 81 people had a work accident between 2014 xxi and 2016. The distribution of these accidents according to the years, months, shifts, shift hours, place, injured body parts, types of accidents and division of personnel are examined in detail. The risk analysis studies were carried out by matrix method, in the main facility and 3 support units (bagging, drying, unloading site) of the coal preparation plant. As a result of the risk analysis, 39 hazardous sources and 93 risks related to these hazards were determined. It was classified that 66 of these identified risks were acceptable risk, 23 were of considerable risk and 4 were of unacceptable risk. The risk of stone falling with 16 points in conveyor belts is among unacceptable risks. The second risk identified among unacceptable risks is the falling from height at the drying silo section. Another risk of an unacceptable risk class is the risk of electric shock, which can be caused by the electric panel in the drying section and has a risk score of 15. The last unacceptable risk obtained as a result of the risk analysis has been found to be the truck slippage due to operation without barriers on the unloading site. As a result, necessary precautions and measures have been put forward in order to reduce the identified risks and detailed instructions have been prepared to the related unit personnel.