 Hey Sam, I really appreciate you taking the time out to give me the company's high wall examination procedures, but why are we beginning to examine the top? Where I worked at before, we began to examine the base to see if there's any serious cracks that would make it unsafe to approach it at the top. Well we do that at some of the mines up north and it depends on the rock. That's why the procedures are specific to each pit and sometimes even specific to different areas within the same pit. It's there in the job safety analysis. You haven't had a chance to study that in detail yet. Hold on Jack, I'm going to pull over here for a minute. I want to take a look at the road first. Here? What can we see from here? Well, not much really. I just want to take a look at the road and the berms before we head on up to inspect the high wall. Okay, so what exactly are we looking for? Well, I always like to look at the approach to the high wall, make sure the berm is solid and at least as high as the axle of the big trucks. I also like to look at the road, make sure it's not rutted or unsafe for travel. Also like to make sure that there's no debris or rock in the road that could indicate a bad place in the high wall. So what do you do if it's too nasty to travel? Well I keep a couple of those orange highway cones in the back and a roll of caution tape. I block off the road, then I call then and let everyone know about it and write up a report when I get back to my desk. And that's also in the procedure. Okay, yeah I see that now. Well I don't see anything, do you? No, actually it looks pretty good. Let's head on up. So does everyone receive this type of training? Yes, but not to this extent. All the miners receive hazard awareness training and a normal safety training. But the high wall examination training is for foreman and safety people. Who are responsible for the daily, weekly and monthly inspections and reports. Right, just a requirement of the mountain safety rigs. Yeah, but I don't look at it that way. This is like any tool. If it's used it's the best way to identify ground hazards and maybe prevent a disaster. Well Jack, I'd like to start out by looking at the surface for any cracks or anything like that that might indicate a fault or a break. I'd like to check for loose rocks or unconsolidated material that might fall and injure someone. And if it looks bad enough you might want to use the cones and the caution tape here too. Gotcha. Hey Jack, first thing you got to do when you're out here is pay attention. Now you can't do that with your nose in the book. Sorry about that. I was just trying to make sure I didn't miss anything. But you're right, I wasn't paying much attention. Hey Sam, looks like we've got a little bit of sloping over here. Oh yeah, you're right. But let's not get too close. That ground's probably unstable. Yeah, believe me I wasn't going to get that close. The mines I used to work out we use the six foot rule. Always keep six feet away from the edge and cracks are unstable areas. And if you need to get closer, always use a lanyard and harness. Yeah, that's a good rule. That's what we use here. Most of the mines use some variation of that six foot rule. Let's go get some stuff out of the truck. All right, so what are we using next? All right, I'll call a foreman and let him know what we found and that way he can warn his people. And I'll also note it in the book. Yeah, that looks like a good spot over there Jack. If the ground's stable, that'd be a good area where we can look at the entire area from the side. All right, okay. You know, you can't see the area pretty clearly from here. But you can't make out that much. Oh, use these. You know, you're pretty good. Cones, caution tape, binoculars. You got any other little toys to carry around with you? No, that's about it. Except for a tape measure. I used to have an abney level. You could tell the height, but the bubble tube broke. That should give me another one of those. Yeah, I'm not surprised. Do you normally have any other problems with this pit? Well, occasionally we'll get a fracture line, like that one right there. And once in a while, the previous blast causes backbreak, resulting in a raggedy face. And you need to be familiar with geologic conditions, such as any faults or abnormalities in the dip of the rock. Like if you look at that face over there, you notice how the rock dips toward the pit. Now that can create a dangerous situation. Now here, the rock dips into hill, which usually creates a more stable bench. The examination of the high wall is the most important tool related to high wall safety. Experience and training combine to make a high wall examiner effective. Experience provides the examiner with the ability to tell, or at least suspect, at a glance that a hazard may exist. Training gives the examiner physical and geologic knowledge to apply to the examination. The examiner must have the knowledge of the faults, planes of weakness, and other hazards that can occur to do the job right. The examination should always begin a safe distance from the high wall. The geology of the strata being mined will determine whether the exam should start on top or at the base of the wall. The choice should be based on consideration of the three main categories in which rocks and masses of material fall from a high wall. Toppling, sliding, and circular failure. Toppling is where a rock or a column of rock will develop fractures or planes of weakness around its perimeter. When the support is lost beneath the column more than halfway back, the rock will topple out. There will generally be signs of separation on top of the high wall before a failure. If the mine has a history of these types of failures, start the examination on top of the high wall. Sliding failures can occur when a simple plane of weakness, such as a joint, bedding plane, mud seam, or fracture dipping down toward the pit is exposed. The steeper these planes dip, the greater the tendency for rocks to slide and the less warning that there might be a rock fall or a slide. Therefore, examine the high wall from the base first. A circular failure can occur when a simple plane of weakness A circular failure usually occurs in weak rock, spoil, soil, waste rock, or other unconsolidated material. It typically does not follow a pre-existing fracture plane, but is shaped like a circular arc. Signs of bulging at the bottom and cracks or scarfs on top are present prior to the actual failure. Because of the weakness of the material, begin this examination from the bottom. To be effective, the examiner must communicate all of the findings. A recorded log of the examinations can provide valuable information regarding failures, such as time of year, weather conditions, intervals from time of exposure to failure, and frequency and types of failures. Reviewing the records tells the examiner what conditions have been previously found at the mine, as well as the history of failures. Many companies are using Job Safety Analysis, JSA. The JSA itemizes each step of a job and stresses potential hazards and the recommended actions, tools, and personal protective equipment needed to complete the task. For high wall inspections, a site-specific part can be added to the JSA to give special attention to specific areas of the mine. For example, a note that there are active springs on the north end of the pit during winter and spring months, or that the dip in the strata is becoming steeper as the pit moves to the east, tells the examiner to concentrate on a particular area. Emsha and the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association recommend the use of this valuable tool. In high wall safety, forewarned is forearmed. The best forewarnings are produced by thorough examinations conducted by competent examiners. Now, that crack doesn't go down too far, but we better tell the foreman anyway. I believe you're right. I think we ought to get a couple cones and caution tape to warn anybody from approaching the bottom of the wall. That's a good idea. We got to examine the wall from the bottom anyway. Hey, you are paying attention. So we done up here, all but the paperwork. Let me get back to the office. I'll show you where we keep the record books. You got any questions? Not everything's pretty much the same way we do it. Good enough. Emsha regulations require that high walls and banks be examined before work is to be performed. The inspection methods are not specific, but require that they identify any hazards. The methods used in this video are practices that the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association and the Mind, Safety and Health Administration find effective and recommend. Both NSSGA and Emsha acknowledge that other fully acceptable methods may be effective. Examinations need to be made more often during wet weather, freezing thawing conditions, or when ground conditions change. This video was produced through the joint efforts of the NSSGA Emsha Alliance.