Stacey, T.R., School of Mining Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Gumede, H., School of Mining Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Rock fall accidents continue to be the main causes of fatalities in the mining industry. The occurrence of rock falls in supported stopes implies a failure of the support system. The failure of the support system in turn implies a failure in design. In this paper, ethical issues associated with engineering design are discussed, with particular relevance to stope support design. A risk approach is introduced that will allow designs to be carried out that are compatible with the acceptable risk defined by the mining company management. The implementation of this approach would overcome the ethical shortcomings of current support design practices. © The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2007.