Doctoral Dissertations

Keywords and Phrases

Human factors; Human systems integration; Human-centered designs; Mine safety; Self-escape; Underground mining

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the use of human systems integration (HSI) to develop technologies for miners’ self-escape during a mine emergency, addressing barriers that compromise miner safety during emergencies.

Recognizing the inherently hazardous nature of underground mining, this study has three core objectives: (1) assessing miners' perceptions of proposed self-escape interventions, (2) designing interventions based on these insights, and (3) validating their effectiveness using experimental testing. This work evaluates self-escape interventions for both coal and metal/non-metal miners using scenario-based surveys, information design reviews, label designs and experimental testing methods varying across three distinct studies.

Results reveal that miners identified improvements to self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs), refuge alternatives (RAs), and communications as most useful and that RA labels and instructions designed using information design review and human-centered label redesign improve miners’ ability to deploy mobile inflatable tent RAs. The results also show the redesigned labels improvement in performance of non-engineers much more than engineers and leads to parity in performance among the two groups.

The findings underscore the importance of human systems integration in designing miner-centric technologies that address real-world operational needs. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge in human systems integration in designing technologies for miner self-escape.

Advisor(s)

Awuah-Offei, Kwame, 1975-

Committee Member(s)

Johnson, Catherine E.
Baker, Denise A.
Xu, Guang
Frimpong, Samuel

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Mining Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Summer 2025

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

Paper I, found on pages 34 - 66, has been published in Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration.
Paper II, found on pages 67 - 98, will be submitted for publication in the Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration.
Paper III, found on pages 99 - 133, will be submitted for publication in the Journal of Safety Research.

Pagination

xiii, 154 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes_bibliographical_references_(pages 145-152)

Rights

© 2025 Eugene Adubofour Gyawu , All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12508

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