# Western Mining Safety and Health Training Resource Center: Evidence-based Learning Laboratories

> **NIH ALLCDC U60** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2021 · $486,000

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Objective: To improve mining safety and health training in the western United States in order to reduce mining
injuries, illnesses and fatalities. Background: Despite continued improvements over time, mining injuries and
fatalities continue to occur in the mining industry, and reducing occupational illnesses remains challenging.
Building on our past NIOSH miner training (U60) grants, we will expand our collaborative training programs with
industry partners to offer competency-based health and safety training for miners, trainers, supervisors and
health and safety personnel. Specific Aims: 1) Establish collaborative, evidence-based learning laboratories; 2)
Improve health training; and 3) Develop new technologically driven training products. Study Design: We will
expand our collaborative efforts with training consultants and company and labor-based training programs to
develop learning laboratories incorporating our existing training resources and additional training products from
NIOSH, other academic programs, and industry. We will also introduce and evaluate a promising new industrial
athlete warm-up program shared by one of our industry partners which in an initial pilot study has greatly reduced
workplace injuries. A mentorship program will be provided for learning laboratory leaders, along with a new
evaluation infrastructure which includes a heterogeneous database capable of aggregating and analyzing data
from a variety of sources and formats (including quantitative, qualitative, and multi-modal). Traumatic injury
prevention will continue to be a part of all levels of training (miner, trainer, supervisors and health and safety
personnel) and other NIOSH NORA cross-sector topics including musculoskeletal health, hearing loss
prevention, respiratory health, heat-related illnesses and fatigue will be addressed through addition of health
modules in existing and new training products. Building upon our past successes with experiential learning and
highly engaging serious games, we will extend our suite of existing training products with new content focusing
on NORA cross-sector topics and hazard mitigation. New modules will be developed that include an expansion
pack for our Very Good Day hazard recognition card game and a new story-based scenario for the synthetic
learning environment (SLE) Harry's Hazardous Day. Furthermore, we will create ‘hybrid’ games that serve as a
bridge between traditional tabletop activities and full-scale SLEs using readily available mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets augmented by personalized digital content. Digital content will feature challenges,
rewards, and scaffolding specific to each learner. Relevance to public health: The proposed program will serve
to directly promote Research to Practice (r2p) with our industry partners. Intermediate outcomes will include: 1)
improved safety and health practices; 2) workers empowered through active learning to be active participants in
improvin...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10246768
- **Project number:** 5U60OH010014-12
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jefferey L. Burgess
- **Activity code:** U60 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $486,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10246768

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10246768, Western Mining Safety and Health Training Resource Center: Evidence-based Learning Laboratories (5U60OH010014-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10246768. Licensed CC0.

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