A Survey on the Risk Perception of Slips, Trips, and Falls of Coal
Mine Workers in China
Samsiya Khaday
Ph.D. Program of Technology Management, Chung Hua
University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
seeya.031@gmail.com
Nailiang Li
School of Mines, China University of Mining and
Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
0748@cumt.edu.cn
ABSTRACT
Coal mine industry has been one of the most risky industries in
terms of occupational safety and health in China. Slip, trip, and fall
(STF) has been one of the most common occupational accidents
globally which can lead to fatal and non-fatal accidents. This study
investigated coal mine worker risk perception of occupational STF
hazard. A survey was administered on 300 coal mine workers. The
results showed that the age group has significant effect. The per-
ceived risk of STF on the ramp and on the track were high. Rail track
lanes on the roadway had the highest risk ratings. Moreover, un-
derground crossing tracks and ramps were locations with frequent
accidents. Workers’ perception of the risky locations underground
provides targets for safety promotions for coal mine authorities.
CCS CONCEPTS
• Computing methodologies; • Information systems;
KEYWORDS
Slip, trip, and fall, occupational accident, coal mine worker percep-
tion
ACM Reference Format:
Samsiya Khaday, Kai W. Li, Nailiang Li, and Yunxiu Chen. 2021. A Survey on
the Risk Perception of Slips, Trips, and Falls of Coal Mine Workers in China.
In 2021 3rd International Conference on Management Science and Industrial
Engineering (MSIE 2021), April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan. ACM, New York,
NY, USA, 6 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3460824.3460843
1 INTRODUCTION
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal [1, 2].
According to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, China
has produced an estimated 3.36 billion tons of coal in 2016 [3]. Coal
mining industry remains one of the most high-risk industries in
China and bears the worst safety record in the world [4]. Frequent
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https://doi.org/10.1145/3460824.3460843
120
Kai W. Li
Ph.D. Program of Technology Management, Chung Hua
University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
kai@chu.edu.tw
Yunxiu Chen
School of Mines, China University of Mining and
Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
chenyunxiu_2016@163.com
coal mine accidents have been considered as one of the most sig-
nificant safety and health problems in China [5-9]. Although the
number of fatalities has steadily decreased, there is still a great
gap of safety in coal mines between China and the other countries
[1, 4, 10].
Safety promotion is essential in coal mine industry. Yu et al.
[11] proposed the combination intervention strategies on safety
management, individual factors, group factors, safety leadership
and physical environment. Those strategies can provide theoretical
supports and method guidance for improving the safety production
level of coal miners. The control of the safety and behavior of
management is a key element in shaping occupational safety [12].
Slip, trip, and fall (STF) has been reported as one of the major
accident type globally [13–15]. The literature [16] has shown that
STF has been recognized as the prime contributor to injuries at
workplaces. STF has been reported as the second largest source of
unintentional mortality in the USA. The annual per capita, direct,
cost of occupational injuries caused by STF incidences ranged from
US$50 to US$400 [17]. These numbers indicate the significance of
scientific research in STF.
Occupational accidents in underground coal mine has been re-
ported [18]. However, those reports were focus on major catastro-
phes such as landslide and fatality. A recent study concerning the
STF problems at surface mines in the USA has been reported [18].
[19] indicated that mobile equipment operators, laborers/utility
men, and mechanics were most often involved in nonfatal STF in-
cidents at surface mines. More than 80% of the activities involved
in the STF incidences were walking/running, getting on/off equip-
ment, machine maintenance/repair, and materials handling. Rocks
and stones on unpaved surfaces, material accumulation on paved
surfaces, and pooled water were common hazards identified. These
results were based on an investigation at surface mines. They may
or may not reflect the SFT problems and hazards in underground
mines. A study of STF for workers who work in underground mines
should be investigated.
The majority of the STF to injuries, instead of fatality, and hence
has been ignored by the Chinese coal mine industry. To address
these disparities, this paper focuses on the STF accident and aims
to investigate the risk perception of STF on coal mine workers
and hazardous location in underground coal mine on coal mine
workers.
MSIE 2021, April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan
2 METHOD
During the period of July 7th to July 30th in 2019, this study was
carried out data collection of coal mine worker in China. The sam-
pling frame were selected including age, height, work experience,
and total time spent for everyday with 300 subject were recruited.
2.1 Questionnaire and survey
The questionnaires were distributed to coal mine workers via
WeChat on smartphones with two coal mine companies. The ques-
tionnaires were then distributed to coal mine workers by managers
in their companies. The works filled out the questions voluntarily
and anonymously.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts. First part was to survey
a participants’ profile and second part investigated the participants’
self-reported risk perception of STF in underground coal mine
worksites, which consisted of three components were surveyed
namely, underground work environments, Illumination and space
adequacy and Risk assessment of coal mine workers. The details
of the questionnaire are shown in Table 1. The Multiple Choice
Questionnaire was used.
2.2 Participant and measure
A convenience sample of 300 coal mine workers were recruited
and sufficient to provide representative and stable results. The
online survey was performed to those coal mine workers. The
demographic attributes of survey respondents are reported in Table
2. The respondents were split into two age groups: above or below
30 yrs of age. Each of these groups accounted for 50%. More than
60% of the respondents have work experience less than 11 years.
The respondents’ work experience more than 11 years were 35.7%.
Moreover, the most respondent worked more than 6 hours daily
underground (88.7%).
2.3 Statistical analysis
The data were coded. We analyzed the data of characteristics in
underground, including illumination in underground and sidewalk.
Analysis of age group was also performed. Frequency distributions
were used to compare the difference coal miner age group. SAS
8.0 (SAS Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was used to compute the Chi-square
statistics on a combined dataset consisting of the risk perception of
STF.
3 RESULT
3.1 Subjective ratings of temperature and
humidity in underground work
environments
The interviewees were requested to rate the temperature and hu-
midity in their underground work environments. Figure 1 shows
that the temperature in spring was the most comfortable (39.67%)
and fall was second (38.67%). The highest and lowest temperature
are shown in summer and winter, respectively. The humidity in
underground coal mine in spring and fall are comfortable counted
for 29% and 33.33%, respectively. Winter is very dry in underground
coal mine (3%). For the summer, the underground work sites are
humid (40.67%) (see Figure 2).
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Samsiya Khaday et al.
3.2 Illumination and space adequacy
As there is no sunshine underground, lighting is of extremely im-
portance. Table 3 shows the illumination adequacy in different
underground coal mine locations reported by the respondents. Coal
mining face was the most of meet the need of work (48%), while
alleyway was second. Roadway was resulted the most lack of a cer-
tain extent (46.0%) in underground coal mine. However, the result
in each area in underground was slightly different between meet
the need of work and lack of a certain extent. Thus, the overall of
illumination of each area in underground was meet the need of
work.
Rail and sidewalks are distributed in the laneway. Due to the
structure of the laneway, the design of the walkway and the reality.
Table 4 shows the sidewalk characteristics, 40% of the sidewalk next
to the rails is narrow. While, 29% of respondent is not narrow, can be
walked normally of the sidewalk next to the rails. Yet, approximately
60% of respondent walked the rail even though walkway is too
narrow or the flow of people.
3.3 Risk assessment of coal mine workers
Table 5 shows the frequency percent distribution of the location that
likely to have STF accidents reported by the respondents. There was
significantly effects between age groups of workers and location
that likely to accident occurred, x 2 =36.69, p<0.0001. The frequency
distribution indicated that STF accident occurred predominantly on
ramp for both coal mine worker age group and that below 30 yrs
old workers had a significant risk perception of the location that
likely to have STF accident occurred (23%) but somewhat fewer STF
accident occurred on mine walkway and gravel the middle when
compared with than 30 yrs old or more workers.
Table 6 shows the frequency percent distribution of risky loca-
tion on the walkway. Most STF accident occurred on working on
coalface. The frequency distribution showed that below 30 yrs old
workers likely to have more risk perception on coalface (42.1%)
while other location (i.e., up and down and track connection lane)
on the walkway was rather fewer STF accident occurred when
compared with worker 30 yrs old or older. However, there was
no statistically significant affect between age and distribution of
walkway, x 2 =2.78, p> 0.05.
Table 7 presents perception of risk on the rail, the frequency
distribution identified that high risk was the most perceived on the
rail. There was significantly effects between age groups of worker
and risk on the rail, x 2 =11.35, p <0.05. More than 30 yrs old workers
had a significant higher risk perception on the rail (75.3%) than
below 30 yrs old workers (59.6%).
Table 8 presents perception of risk on ramp. The frequency dis-
tribution indicated that high risk was also the most perceived on
workers of risky on the ramp for all age groups. There were sig-
nificant effects between age groups and risky on the ramp level,
x 2 =9.99, p<0.05. As shown in Table 7, more than 30 yrs old workers
had a significant higher risk perception on the ramp (71.3%) than
workers below 30 yrs old (60.0%).
4 DISCUSSION
China’s appalling record of fatalities in the coal mining industry
include the industry’s complicated geological conditions, its mostly
A Survey on the Risk Perception of Slips, Trips, and Falls of Coal Mine Workers in China MSIE 2021, April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan

Table 1: Questionnaire details

Component Construct Item Type

underground work environments Temperature 1. Spring Multiple Choice
2. Summer Questionnaire
3. Fall
4. Winter
Humidity 1. Spring
2. Summer
3. Fall
4. Winter
Illumination and space adequacy illumination 1. Open up alleyway Multiple Choice
2. Prepare the roadway Questionnaire
3. Mining roadway
4. Coal mining face
5. Heading face
6. Other areas
The sidewalk next to the rails 1. Too narrow to walk
2. Narrow
3. Normally
4. Very wide
pedestrian walkway is too 1. Walked
narrow 2. Not walked
Risk assessment of coal mine Location 1. Ramp Multiple Choice
workers 2. Operation site Questionnaire
3. walkway
4. Ground protrusion
5. Depression
6. Crossing rail
7. Gravel the middle
Location on the walkway 1.Track up and down the mining area
2. Working on the coalface
3. Track connection lane
4. Track alley
Risk on the rail 1. High
2. Moderate
3.Low
4. No
Risk on the ramp 1. High
2. Moderate
3. Low
4. No

Table 2: Participant demographic.

Participant profile Frequency Percentage (%)

Age ≤ 30 150 50.0%
> 30 150 50.0%
Work experience ≤ 5 yrs 86 28.7%
6 -10 yrs 107 35.7%
11 - 20 yrs 74 24.7%
> 20 yrs 33 11.0%
Spending time ≤ 6 hour 34 11.3%
> 6 hour 266 88.7%

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MSIE 2021, April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan Samsiya Khaday et al.

Figure 1: Distribution of temperature in underground

Figure 2: Distribution of humidity in underground

Table 3: Illumination adequacy underground

Illumination Meet the need of work Lack of a certain extent Very lacking
Alleyway 44.0% 41.7% 14.3%
Roadway 39.0% 46.0% 15.0%
Mining roadway 42.7% 42.0% 15.3%
Coal mining face 48.3% 38.7% 13.0%
Heading face 41.0% 44.7% 14.3%
Other areas 43.7% 40.3% 16.0%

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A Survey on the Risk Perception of Slips, Trips, and Falls of Coal Mine Workers in China MSIE 2021, April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan

Table 4: Perception of walkway space adequacy underground.

Sidewalk characteristics Frequency Percentage (%)

The sidewalk next to the rails
Too narrow to walk 84 28.0
Narrow 122 40.7
Normally 89 29.7
Very wide 5 1.7
Walked the rail when the pedestrian walkway is too narrow or the flow of people is difficult to pass
Walked 186 62.0
Not walked 144 38.0

Table 5: Location perceived to be likely to have STF accidents by age.

Location Coal miner age group

≤30 30+
Ramp 78 (23.8%) 45 (17.3%)
Operation site 40 (12.2%) 30 (11.5%)
walkway 30 (09.1%) 33 (12.7%)
Ground protrusion 45 (13.7%) 30 (11.5%)
Depression 50 (15.2%) 38 (14.6%)
Crossing rail 75 (22.9%) 42 (16.2%)
Gravel the middle 10 (03.0%) 42 (16.2%)
Total 328 (100%) 260 (100%)

Table 6: Perception of risky location on the walkway by age.

Location on the walkway Coal miner age group

≤30 30+
Track up and down the mining area 21 (13.2%) 29 (16.6%)
Working on the coalface 67 (42.1%) 60 (34.3%)
Track connection lane 26 (16.4%) 36 (20.6%)
Track alley 45 (28.3%) 50 (28.6%)
Total 159 (100%) 179 (100%)

Table 7: Perception of STF risk on rail by age.

Risk on the rail Coal miner age group

≤30 30+
High 81 (59.6%) 113 (75.3%)
Moderate 35 (25.7%) 28 (18.7%)
Low 16 (11.8%) 09(6.0%)
No 04 (02.9%) 0 (0.0%)
Total 150 (100%) 150 (100%)

underground mining [20, 21]. STF of occupational accident are com-
mon occurred in the surface underground coal mine. Generally, the
environment in underground coal mine is included ground stone,
light dim, the step distances conflict, the narrow of the walkway
and etc. These are the factors that led to occupational accident in
underground coal mine.
This study assessed the hazard of occupational accident that
cause of STF found that illumination of each area in underground
coal mine was meet the need of work, sidewalk next to the rails,
is narrow, can barely walk alone. While More than 60% of the re-
spondents walked on the rail when the pedestrian walkway is too
narrow or flow of people is difficult to pass. Demographic effects

124
MSIE 2021, April 02–04, 2021, Osaka, Japan
Table 8: Perception STF risk on ramp by age.
Risk on the ramp Coal miner age group
≤30
High 90 (60.0%)
Moderate 45 (30.0%)
Low 13 (08.7%)
No 2 (01.3%)
Total 150 (100%)
were assessed to determine whether influence to occupational acci-
dent. It was found that age group was significant on the occurrence
of STF accident underground.
Additionally, risks of STF on track and on ramp were high, more
than 30 yrs old workers had a significant higher risk perception on
the track and on the ramp. And for the highest risk on the roadway
is working face tack land, below 30 yrs old workers likely to have
more risk perception on the roadway. While, the location that the
most prone to STF was slope and crossing accident occurred in
underground coal mine, below 30 yrs old workers had a significant
risk perception of the location.
5 CONCLUSION
As well know, coal mining industry remains one of the highest-risk
industries in China. Although the number of fatalities has steadily
decreased in recent years, coal mine include the industry’s compli-
cated geological conditions, one of the most frequently accident
occurred in underground coal mines is STF accident. There is a lack
of information of the risk of STF in underground coal mine. This
investigation found that ramp and the rail were the locations of
high risk of STF accidents. In addition, ramp and crossing track
were also risky locations for SPF accidents. The safety authorities
may put their focus of STF prevention in these locations.
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