TRAP

Take Responsibility for Accident

Prevention

TRAP
TRAP
 TRAP stands for “ Take Responsibility
for Accident Prevention.”
 The TRAP program is an employee-
driven program of identifying,
evaluating, and eliminating hazards in
the workplace.
 It’s a program that involves both the
miner and the manager.
TRAP
 TRAPS may be set by …

 Normal mining practice

.The workers

TRAP

.Changing conditions
TRAPS may be set by …
. The Environment

•Due to poor communications

•Through design
TRAP
One Study Results
1 Major injury
10 Minor injuries
30 Property damage accidents
600 Incidents with no apparent
injury/property damage

TRAP
 The 1-10-30-600 Ratio
The relationships in the ratio indicate quite clearly
how foolish it is to direct our total effort at the
relatively few events ending in serious or
disabling injury when there are 630
opportunities to identify “TRAPS” that provide
a much larger basis for more effective control
and elimination of hazards.

TRAP
In an article titled “Fatal Accidents on
the rise in 1997: A Cause for
Concern”

 Near misses need to be considered as

warnings, analyzed, and used to prevent
more serious accidents from occurring.
 Near misses are incidents which usually
indicate the presence of a hazard - or in
other words a “trap”.

TRAP
 Traps come and go in the workplace
daily, depending on the work
activities and the employees.
 Some are simple, such as a cord
stretched across a walkway.
 Some are more complex, such as a
poorly designed set of controls on a
mining machine.

TRAP
 Given just the right combination of
inattention, timing, and bad luck, a
trap can spring its teeth with serious
results.
 What’s often discouraging is that,
during many accident investigations,
we find that the hazard, or trap, had
existed prior to the accident (even
involved in a near miss), but went
unreported and uncorrected.
TRAP
Why?
 The question is, “Why did the trap
remain until an accident/incident
happened?”
 Who had the opportunity to identify
and correct the TRAP?
 How many near misses had occurred
in the past?

TRAP
 Common Reasons Given

 Poor understanding of the importance of

reporting
 It’s someone else’s job - not my
responsibility
 Production pressures - don’t have time
 Fear of discipline
 Concern about personal accident history
 Don’t want to get involved

TRAP
 Common Reasons Given

 Fear of medical treatment

 Knock one out of the safety incentive
program
 Desire to prevent work interruption
 Concern about relationship with others
 Peer pressure
 No system in place to report or collect near
miss situations
 No one cares
TRAP
 There are many other reasons
employees don’t come forward with
information concerning hazards or
near miss situations.
 If only employees could understand
that near miss situations present the
best opportunity to get involved in
accident prevention.

TRAP
 Near misses are free opportunities to
identify, evaluate, and eliminate
existing “traps” in the workplace.
 Employees are in the best position to
recommend solutions to the
problems when identified.
 They often know how to “disarm” the
trap situation, if asked to do so.

TRAP
 MSHA looks to management to
provide a safe and healthful work
environment for the miner.
 But we should not forget that the
Act intended for all employees to be
involved and assist in making the
workplace safer.

TRAP
 the operators of the mines, with the
assistance of the miners, have the
primary responsibility to prevent the
existence of such conditions and
practices in such mines” that would
result in death or serious injury.
 The intent was that management would
be assisted by the miners in providing a
safe workplace.

TRAP
 The emphasis of this program is not
on analyzing accidents which have
already happened, but on capturing
near miss information or identifying
existing traps which have not
produced injury or lost time.
 That is not to say it is not important
to properly analyze and correct
reportable accidents.
TRAP
 Incident analysis should always take
place.
 The purpose of this program is to
encourage employees to report near
miss situations or existing “traps”
along with helping management find
reasonable and economical solutions
to problems.

TRAP
 The key to the program’s success is to
get all the employees involved.
 This starts by addressing the barriers to
reporting near miss events and creating
incentives for identifying “traps”.
 Companies need to encourage
employees to be “TRAP” hunters and find
ways to dismantle any traps found.
TRAP
 Old incentive programs which reward
employees for not having accidents must
evolve into programs which reward
employees for reporting near miss
situations and existing “traps” along with
recommendations to eliminate the hazard.
 “Take Responsibility for Accident
Prevention” is a pro-active program.

TRAP
 Trap involves the worker, the
supervisor, management, and even
MSHA.
 The goal to make the workplace safer
for everyone.

TRAP
Questions to consider
 What are common “traps” at your
mining operations?
 What methods are used to identify
“traps” in the workplace?
 Are you responsible for identifying and
removing “traps”?
 Do supervisors have responsibility to
identify and correct “traps”?
TRAP
More Questions
 How can “trap” hunting benefit you?
 How can “trap” hunting work at your
company?

TRAP
What do I need to get started?
 Establish a program
 KISS (Keep it simple sweetheart)
 Provide TRAP training for employees
 Develop a method of reporting “traps”
 Develop a procedure for evaluating
solutions
 Establish benefit of reporting
 Recognize those who participate
 Share results
TRAP
TRAP Committee
 Organize a TRAP committee made up
of management and labor to review
and evaluate “trap” suggestions
which are submitted.

TRAP
“TRAP Buster” of the Month
 Recognition
 Award/Reward
 Send suggestion to MSHA’s Accident
Reduction Program

TRAP
Summary
 Remember: The overall objective
and goal should be to identify and
eliminate workplace “traps” before
they have a chance to snap shut on a
worker.

THANK YOU
TRAP