Stabilization of essential rotating machinery for the fossil fuel industry.

DOE Contract No. EF-76-5-01-2479.

The Work crew performance model : a method for evaluating training and performance in the mining industry /

Includes bibliographical references.

Roughing it in Siberia, with some account of the Trans-Siberian railway, and the gold-mining industry of Asiatic Russia,

Mode of access: Internet.

The mining industry in that part of northern ontario

Mode of access: Internet.

Summary of selected injury experience and worktime for the mining industry in the United States, 1931-77 /

Chiefly tables.

Quantification of geological uncertainty and risk using stochastic simulation and applications in the coal mining industry

Stochastic simulation is a recognised tool for quantifying the spatial distribution of geological uncertainty and risk in earth science and engineering. Metals mining is an area where simulation technologies are extensively used; however, applications in the coal mining industry have been limited. This is particularly due to the lack of a systematic demonstration illustrating the capabilities these techniques have in problem solving in coal mining. This paper presents two broad and technically distinct areas of applications in coal mining. The first deals with the use of simulation in the quantification of uncertainty in coal seam attributes and risk assessment to assist coal resource classification, and drillhole spacing optimisation to meet pre-specified risk levels at a required confidence. The second application presents the use of stochastic simulation in the quantification of fault risk, an area of particular interest to underground coal mining, and documents the performance of the approach. The examples presented demonstrate the advantages and positive contribution stochastic simulation approaches bring to the coal mining industry

The impact of NC machinery upon manufacturing industry

The changing face of industry due to the adoption of `New Technology' is briefly discussed, as are the corresponding structural changes in the workforce. The adoption of NC machinery is identified as one of the major innovations affecting the structure of industry. The development of NC machinery, and of relevant programming techniques are reviewed, and the problems arising from its initial sponsorship by the aerospace industry are highlighted. The process of its subsequent diffusion into industry is reviewed. Skill levels adopted for NC use in Britain and Germany are discussed, and analysed to create a structural pattern. These classifications of skill levels are then used to examine the organisational structures adopted by companies utilising NC machines. The greater use made of higher level shop floor skills by German companies is discussed. The results of two surveys of the use made of NC by companies in the North East of England are presented. Effective company organisation for NC use is described, and lack of foresight is shown to lead to vulnerability problems where skills can become concentrated in a few key people. This led to closure of a company in one instance. It is shown that small sub-contract companies have adopted a highly skilled shop floor workforce, and that they have survived in the present hostile economic environment, whilst companies who have used NC to de-skill the shop floor contracted dramatically in the same period. The lack of awareness of the potential for reviewing the product design in relation to the flexibility of NC, so leading to reductions in work in progress levels, is highlighted. Recommendations for skill structures appropriate to various sized companies and suitable training programs are presented to ensure that the full potential of NC machinery is achieved.

Safety and health in mines: the rise of bureaucracy in the coal mining industry and its results as evidenced by the public enquiry into an accident at Houghton Main Colliery

This thesis is concerned with certain aspects of the Public Inquiry into the accident at Houghton Main Colliery in June 1975. It examines whether prior to the accident there existed at the Colliery a situation in which too much reliance was being placed upon state regulation and too Iittle upon personal responsibility. I study the phenomenon of state regulation. This is done (a) by analysis of selected writings on state regulation/intervention/interference/bureaucracy (the words are used synonymously) over the last two hundred years, specifically those of Marx on the 1866 Committee on Mines, and (b) by studying Chadwick and Tremenheere, leading and contrasting "bureaucrats" of the mid-nineteenth century. The bureaucratisation of the mining industry over the period 1835-1954 is described, and it is demonstrated that the industry obtained and now possesses those characteristics outlined by Max Weber in his model of bureaucracy. I analyse criticisms of the model and find them to be relevant, in that they facilitate understanding both of the circumstances of the accident and of the Inquiry . Further understanding of the circumstances and causes of the accident was gained by attendance at the lnquiry and by interviewing many of those involved in the Inquiry. I analyse many aspects of the Inquiry - its objectives. structure, procedure and conflicting interests - and find that, although the Inquiry had many of the symbols of bureaucracy, it suffered not from " too much" outside interference. but rather from the coal mining industry's shared belief in its ability to solve its own problems. I found nothing to suggest that, prior to the accident, colliery personnel relied. or were encouraged to rely, "too much" upon state regulation.