 Benches, overhangs, drilling, blasting, mucking, end loaders, drag lines, trucks, shovels, strata, and haul road layouts. Just a few of the elements involved in mining. If your job puts you on or near high wall operations, you need to be especially careful. Time and time again we are reminded of the dangers of high walls. Accidents and fatalities have demonstrated the need for extra awareness while working around high walls. It's your experience and training that can help to identify possible dangers. Let's listen as this experienced truck driver trains a new employee. Now pay some attention to the road. There are still some slick spots from last night's rain. Yeah, yeah, no problem. As I was saying, he should have seen it. Two outs in the night dining and two manner one. He stood up to the plate like he owned it. Yeah, yeah Dave. I was there. I saw him and he looked great. But Dave, he struck out. We're coming up on a curve now. Just maintain the same throttle and let your momentum carry you through. You'll lose some speed, but that's okay. Wait till next year with the little practice that boy's going to be. Whoa, look out for that rock. Wow, where did this thing come from? Looks like it fell off one of the haul trucks. It was brought up in the safety meeting last week. It shouldn't overload these monsters. I guess somebody wasn't paying attention. I don't think so. Looks like it came from right about there. Good thing nobody was here when it came down. Let's back this truck out of here and call the boss. I'm not too crazy about working under a high wall as a drop of those. The most common and frequent causes of rockfall are due to planes of weakness such as joints, faults, fractures, bedding plates, mud seams, and blast damage. Other causes of rockfalls are freeze-thaw cycles, machinery working on higher benches or on top of the high wall, poor drainage of surface water away from the high wall, the overall slope face being too steep, and root growth of trees. The surest method of protection from rockfall hazards is recognizing and avoiding potentially dangerous areas. If you work near high walls, you need to be trained in high wall hazard recognition. Did you get a hold of the boss? Yeah. He sent an overloader to move this. He told us to stay here until it's clear. Do you see any loosens up there ready to come down? Nothing obvious. I would like to have him take a look at this area here. Looks like it might need some scaling. Here he comes now. You didn't run in the rock, did you? Nope. I saw it in time. Okay guys, we'll take it from here. You guys get back to work. Oh, by the way, good job on spotting this. He handled it real well. Looks like Monday's safety meeting on high wall hazard recognition paid off. Before that meeting, these guys would have probably driven around that rock and just going on down the road. Yeah, maybe. I'd like to think somebody listens. You know, I think last night's rain loosened a lot of those rocks. I've already ordered the trucks down to the south ramp and I got the bucket truck coming over to scale this wall. Once that's cleaned up, we'll clean her up and get ready for tomorrow. Sounds like you've got all the bases covered. Boy, I hope so. But you know, spring thaw and rain is really loosening these rocks. You know, I'd like to continue this theme at the next safety meeting. In fact, why don't you use today as an example and tell you what, let's give the guys some credit for what they did today. It's a good idea. For more information on high wall safety, visit our website at www.msha.gov. If your job has to do with the high wall safety operations, be very careful. We'll never let you remember the dangers of high wall safety. The risk of death and accidents doesn't stop indicating the danger of working close to high wall safety. And only the police will be able to help you identify the possible risks. Let's see how a driver with experience trains a new employee. Always keep an eye on the road. As you can see, it rained last night and the rocks fell. Yes, I see. No problem. As I told you, you would have seen it. Two men were on the ninth entrance and two on the inside. It seemed that the base was yours. Yes, I know. I was there, I saw it and I played well, but they punctured it. Be careful with the curve. Keep the same speed and let the inertia take us. You're going to lose speed, but don't worry. You'll see the year ahead, with a bit of safe practice. Hey, be careful with that rock. And where did it come from? It seems that one of the trucks fell. In the last meeting we talked about that you should never overload them. I'm sure someone won't pay attention. No, I don't think so. I think it fell from up there. It's good that no one went through here. Let's get out of here and call the boss. I'm not as crazy as to work in situations like this. The most common and frequent causes of rock falling are due to a weakening caused by several factors such as cracks, cracks, fractures, stratification planes, mud layers and flying damage. Another cause of rock falling is due to freezing and deflating cycles, to machines that work in the banks or above high-cut fronts. To the bad drainage of the surface waters that are far from the front, to have a very pronounced saloon and finally to the growing roots of the trees. The safest way to protect yourself from the risk of rock falling is to recognize and avoid potentially dangerous areas. If you work in front of high-cut fronts, you need to be able to identify those risks. Did you talk to the boss? Yes, he said he was going to send someone to remove this. We're going to stay here until he arrives. Do you think there are others that could fall? I don't think so. I would like to ask you to review that area. I think they're going to have to remove that part. They've arrived. Did they fall when they passed? No, they were already there. Okay, come back to work. I'll take care of it. Okay. By the way, how good that they called me. They did the right thing. How good was the meeting about the identification of risks in front of high-cut fronts? If we hadn't had it, they wouldn't have stopped and maybe they would have even been involved. Yeah, right. How good that they paid attention. You know, I think that the rain of the night was over those rocks. I already asked the trucks to go down the ramp and I also asked them to match up as it's due to that wall. They'll clean this up and nothing will happen here. Okay, I see that you have everything under control. Of course, yes. As you can see, the spring and the rain are over the rocks. I would like to talk about this in the next security meeting. In fact, we have to mention what happened this day and also award the guys for what they did. What a good idea. For more information about this topic, please go to our website www.msha.gov