Highlights
- NIOSH has been granting the NIOSH Mine Safety and Health Technology Innovations Award every year since 2012
- Summaries of past awards are offered to inspire others to innovate
Awards by year
2023 Award Winners
Musculoskeletal Disorder Prevention (Industrial Minerals)
Imerys installed multiple lift assist devices and redesigned a packing station to include numerous features to eliminate repetitive shoulder, arm, and wrist twisting, as well as shoulder and back lifting of bottles and boxes. The improvements also boosted production.
Underground Closed Bench Mining Method (Metal)
Hecla developed the innovative Underhand Closed Bench (UCB) mining method for proactive control of fault-slip seismicity in deep, high-stress, narrow-vein mining. The UCB method has significantly improved safety, reducing the Lucky Friday all-injury frequency rate by more than 50 percent.
Wireless Gas Monitor (Coal)
Innovative Wireless Technologies developed a next-generation Wireless Gas Monitor (WGM) using a multi-sensor platform. Deployed at Arch Resources' Leer Mine, the rapidly deployable system provides real-time situational awareness and visibility of atmospheric conditions.