ABSTRACT
Training is without doubt the most commonly used health and safety risk control measure across industry in general. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the single largest cause of lost time within UK coal mining was associated with musculo-skeletal injury. Within these periods the largest single cause was manual handling activities. This was despite the fact that all new recruits were given detailed manual handling training and the fact that manual handling was often the focus on local and national initiatives. Examination of the driver/guard training modules and the mine standards revealed that no safe tramming distance or speed limits were specified in either the training or standards. In the section on use of fire extinguishers in the induction training at the mine and the "pocket guide" issued to all staff as a job aid on safety, the information given related to how to use stored-pressure type extinguishers whereas all the extinguishers observed on the mine were of the cartridge-operated type.
