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Show ) 4 Carbon-Emer- Classifieds, Juesday, May 16, J 989 Miners warned of hazards concerning material slides Mine operators and miners need to beware of the deadly hazard of material slides in bins, hoppers and stockpiles, the U.S. Labor Departments Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSIIA) warns. The warning follows an MSIIA investigation into an accident earlier this year in which two California miners were suffocated under sliding material. MSIIAs investigation of the Jan. 19, 1989, accident found that the two victims were performing maintenance work at the foot of a pile of crushed stone when material slid down and buried them. The pile was unstable because material had been removed from the foot of the pile without trimming the upper part to a safe angle, MSIIA investigators 125-foot-hi- found. According to the inves- tigation report, neither management nor miners at the Leona Quarry in Oakland, Calif., recognized from visual inspection that the upper portion of the pile was unstable. Bins, hoppers and stockpiles of coal, crushed stone and other loose materials are a common feature of the mining industry, said Roy L. Bernard, deputy assistant secretary of labor for mine safety individual fatalities involving unconsolidated materials over the past few years. The most recent of these occurred Jan. 26, when a bulldozer operator was engulfed in an iron ore stockpile at the Hibbing Taco-nit- e Co. near Hibbing, Minn. The victim was operating his machine on top of the stockpile when the machine slid drawhole into a over a feeder area where material is withdrawn. and health. Too many people fail to recognize hazards posed by unstable materials. In less than a year, the mining industry has seen two different double-fatalitaccidents from y this cause. On July 5, 1988, two miners were suffocated in a bin of crushed stone at the Loudoun Quarry in Loudoun County, Va. Five employees had entered the bin to clear a hangup that prevented material from flowing freely through feeders below. The unconsolidated material gave way and engulfed the two victims. None of the workers who entered the bin wore safety belts and lines as required by federal regulations. Most people dont realize that walking on unconsolidated materials can be more dangerous than walking on quicksand, Bernard said. Wou can be entrapped if you You can are only knee-deesuffocate if you are only chest-deeAnd rescuers need to know what theyre doing or they can make the situation worse. Its essential to follow safe procedures whenever working around any type of unconsolidated materials. In addition to these doublefatality accidents, the mining industry has had numerous By JOHN VASTEN Forest fires have created a lot of controversy during the past two years. In 1987, there were extensive fires in the North and Northwest, particularly in Northern California and Southern Oregon. 1988 saw even more forest fires, with attention focused on the Yellowstone area. With all of the coverage in newspapers, magazines and television, there has been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding of the Forest Service policy with regard to forest fires. In many of the media reports, it was stated that the p. p. Forest Service and the State lands board meeting set Friday visit the west desert pumping project, prior to arriving in Tooele. The discussion of policy items will include the Henry Mountains coal withdrawal review. There had been previous indications that some board action might be possible on the issue of public access to state lands for purposes of hunting, fishing and trapping. Continued operation of the joint committee of the Wildlife Board, Board of Big Game Control and the Board of State Lands and Forestry requires that this action be deferred until a later date. . National Park Service had a policy for forest fires. That is not now, and never has been, the case. For many years the Forest Service had a policy that all fires are bad, and they had to be put out. However, over the last 10 to 15 years, the Forest Service specialists began to stress that not all fires are bad. Fires were a natural part of the ecosystem before the arrival of European settlers, and they played a natural role. Fires would periodically bum through forests, clearing out underbrush, consuming fuels and returning nutrients to the soil. Because the fires were a fairly regular event, they prevented a large accumulation of fuels, and they were usually not large, disastrous fires that destroyed large areas of forest land. As our population grew and the forest resources became more valuable, we began to University program A policy research center established about a year ago in the University of Utahs department of education administration is making significant contributions to educational reform in Utah. The objective of FOCUS (Formulating Options for Utah Schools) is to provide useful information and analyses to Utahs top 26 education policy makers, says Dr. Michael J. Murphy, associate professor of educational administration and center director. The prime virtue of a university-base- d center is impartiality, says Murphy. While lobbying information from teachers associations, school boards, business groups and parent organizations can be valuable, legislators and others have requested more hard facts about current operations, options and consequences of options. Education research is essential to consolidating and continuing the signficant reforms underway in Utahs school system, says State Superintendent James Moss. The FOCUS policy center is a significant addition to current research and development efforts in this state. To date, FOCUS has issued five of its policy papers. They have ranged from an evaluation of the states $120 million career-ladde- r program (the centers first effort which was presented to the 1988 Legislature) to a recent, widely discussed study on classroom size. During the 1989 Legislature, FOCUS did unpublished research on proposals to eliminate or curtail the senior year of high school. red-cover- ed makers on FOCUSs distribution list include leaders of the Legislatures Joint Public Education AppropriaThe 26 policy tions Committee, which handles education finance; chairpersons of the Utah House and Senate education committees, which handle all other education bills; the state superintendent of schools; and the directors of the Utah Education Assocation and Utah School Boards Association. After review the reports, they are released to the press. Schools of education increasingly feel a responsibility to help their states make wise education policy, says Murphy. FOCUS is policy-make- rs involved five men who were engulfed in a coal storage bin at the Loveridge Mine, Marion County, W. Va., on Feb. 6, 1986. The victims had walked out on top of the stored coal to examine a damaged conveyor structure. materials and the proper protective measures. MSIIA recently developed three new training aids for the mining industry on unconsolidated materials: A program of 38 slides and descriptions of actual accidents, titled Bins, Hoppers Mine employees are urged to familiarize themselves with the hazards of unconsolidated Think Quicksand: Accidents Around and Stockpiles; A video, titled Think Quicksand: Safety te Around Bins and Hoppers; and A Bins and Hoppers Safety Awareness Program designed for trainers. All MSIIA training mater- ials may be ordered from the Business Office, National Mine Health and Safety Academy, P.O. Box 1166, Beckley, W. Va. Telephone (304) (304) 256-330- 25802-116- 6. 256-325- 7 or 2. j t Forest Service clarifies stand on fire let-it-bu- m The Board of State Lands and Forestry will hold its monthly board meeting Friday, May 19. The meeting had previously been scheduled for May 10. The meeting will take place in the Tooele County Courthouse, Room 310, 47 South Main, Tooele, at 8:30 a.m. A briefing for the board will be held Wednesday, May 17, at 1:30 p.m. in the Division of State Lands and Forestry conference room, Suite 400, Triad 3, 255 West North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. On Thursday, May 18, the board will tour state inholdings at Camp Williams and this recent type during years The worst accident of al threatened by the fire, it will controlled (suppressed). If life or property are not threatened by the fire, and if weather and other factors are acceptable, a confine or contain strategy will likely be used. Using this strategy, the fire will be confined by barriers such as streams, roads, ledges or rocky areas, or cone firelines. tained by When the confinecontain be man-mad- strategy is used, the fire is closely monitored to insure it is burning as anticipated. If the situation changes and it becomes appropriate to control the fire, it will be suppressed. The advantages of the confine or contain strategy are several. First is the reduction of fuels and general improvement of the area. Nutrients are returned to the soil and new plant growth results. The second advantage is the cost savings because of the relatively lower expense of monitoring a fire. While costs can vary widely depending on a number of factors such as size and location of fire, accessibility, fuels involved, etc., suppression is always expensive. According to a number of studies, it costs about $150 an acre to suppress a fire and as little as $1 an acre to monitor it. Because the benefits of fire are now much better recognized than in the past, the Forest Service uses prescribed fires to help achieve land and resource management goals. A prescribed fire is one that is set by Forest Service employees under carefully determined conditions. Factors taken into consideration are weather (wind, temperature, relative humidity, etc.), fuel moisture and barriers. When all the criteria are met, the fire will be started and then closely monitored until it is declared out. The Manti-LaScurrently has plans for five prescribed fires. One fire each is planned for the Ferron and Sanpete al s ranger districts. These fires are planned for areas of overmature aspen trees. The fires will rejuvenate the areas, stimulating the growth of new aspens. They will also result in new plant growth that is desirable for wildlife and livestock grazing. The other prescribed fires are planned for the Monticello and Moab ranger districts. They are in areas where ponderosa pine is harvested. i I J 3 i l 1 Walk earns $2,600 for March of Dimes The annual WalkAmerica was held recently in the Price area with nearly 50 participants. They received pledges of more than $2,600 to help in the prevention of birth defects, the nations number one child health problem. WalkAmerica is the March of Dimes largest annual fundraising event. This year an estimated 600,000 people walked in some 1,300 communities across the nation. Contributions are expected to surpass last years total of $34 million. Seventy percent of the monies raised will remain in Utah. The remaining 30 percent goes to the national level. A portion of that money comes back into the state in the form of research grants. March of Dimes programs support diagnosis and treatment of babies, genetic counseling, prenatal care and research into the causes of birth defects. makes education contribution state policy among several university-base- d centers. Others include a joint Stanford-Universit- y of California center, one at the Indiana and another at Floriof University da State University. By linking Utah with other centers, FOCUS puts the state in touch with the most current thinking in education management, notes Murphy. Besides holding conventions, the centers have discussed establishing a computer network for more immediate interchange. Currently, FOCUS is collaborating with five state centers on a study of the changing role of school principals. Policy papers average about 25 pages. Generally, they outline Utahs situation with regard to a problem, describe possible actions and complications, list costs and project benefits. For the study on class size, FOCUS researchers reviewed about 70 studies on the effect of class size on education. The research concluded that students taught in smaller classes do have higher achievement. Researchers found, however, that reducing Utahs average class size to a level at which most students would show higher achievement would cost $160 million or more. And there is a complicating factor: Utah teachers are not accustomed to teaching classes of 15 to 20. To realize student achievement gains, teachers would have to be trained in new methods. But even a small reduction in class size students perforimproves mances, raises teacher morale and improves student attitudes toward school, they found. And it would cost only $18 million annually to reduce Utah class size by one student per class (with multiples of that figure for each additional reduction). The paper then outlined 10 methods of reducing class size and the cost of each reducranging from uniform class-siz- e tions (by simply hiring more teachers statewide) to pull-oprograms (with students going to a smaller group at least one hour a day to work on subjects they find most low-achievi- one-stude- suppress all fires. The result was that an unnaturally large amount of fuels began to accumulate. Not only did this combination of dense, brushy growth and dead material become an extreme lire hazard, it was also detrimental to new plant growth and wildlife. Young, new plant growth, often favored by wildlife, was choked out by the dense growth. And, as mentioned, when ignited, whether by lightning or a careless individual, the resulting fire burned much hotter and more extensively than a fire with less fuel. The result could be destroyed timberland, wildlife habitat and watersheds. As the Forest Service realized that the total fire suppression policy was not appropriate, they developed a confine, contain, control policy. This is the policy now used throughout the Forest Service, including the Manti-LaSNational Forest. The basic philosophy behind this policy is that the response to a fire is tailored to the specific fire. All reported fires are monitored. The weather, terrain and fuels are all considered. If life or property are nt ut difficult). During the 1989 Legislature, FOCUS was asked to study proposals to encourage early high school graduation. Some legislators believed that many high school students wasted their senior year taking filler courses. They thought the state could save money by instructing high schools to structure courses so students would graduate stuafter their junior year. College-boun- d could senior dents year taking spend the concurrent enrollment courses, or college credit courses at a high school sponsored by a state college or university. However, FOCUSs analysis of 8,000 high school transcripts found that most students need their senior year to finish requirements. Our work had a strong impact, says Murphy. The Legislature softened expectations considerably and, instead of mandating an early high school graduation plan, merely instructed districts to inform stun dents of the option. FOCUS researchers felt it would take financial incentives to get even a small initiative off the ground. Accordingly, the Legislature offered a $300 bonus to the high school and a $300 college credit to the student for each student graduating by the first semester of his or her senior year. Currently, the center is studying how differentiated staffing might work in Utah. The concept is to use more paraprofessionals in schools. Teachers would be responsible for more students and assume more of a management role in supervising lower-pai- d aides. Some believe this would make it possible to raise teacher pay. Differentiated staffing has been endorsed by the National Governors Association, a Carnegie Foundation panel and the Holmes Group Consortium (an organization of top schools of education, including the U of U). Gov. Norman Bangerter frequently mentions it in speeches. Another project is a joint study with the Office of Legislative Research of the role of school principals. Many educational administrators suspect that law and policy regarding principals is out of date. The way schools are managed is changing. Teachers have more decision-makin- g powers, and more control is being vested at the building level, early-graduatio- early-graduati- rather than with the district superintendent. Moreover, studies suggest that the usual requirements for becoming a principal taking graduate courses in education dont insure that people entering the field have administrative talent. Nearly two dozen bills related to principals functions, duties and qualifications have been introduced in the last two legislative sessions. The study, partly funded by the Danforth Foundation, will include a review of state laws, State Board of Education policy statements and other official documents to find out how current educational policy defines the principals job. In addition, Utah Office of Education data will be reviewed to learn what Utah principals current qualifications are, and they will be sent a questionnaire to find out whether they believe existing educational policy is consistent with their actual job demands. Similar Danforth-funde- d studies on prinbe will conducted cipals by policy centers in South Ohio, California, Carolina, Florida and Texas. Later FOCUS will join with those universities to compare findings and recommendations and develop model legislation on the role of principals that could be used in all 50 states. r Moves to establish FOCUS date to 1987 when the Legislature was grappling with unprecedented education demands that ultimately led to a $ 150 million tax increase. The increase precipitated the tax initiatives that voters rejected in November 1988. The Legislature was convinced additional funding had to be accompanied by education system reforms. Several legislators expressed an interest in getting the univer- sity involved in supplying useful information to identify reform ideas and consequences, says Murphy. The Graduate School of Education pulled together shoestring funding to pay for the operation from general university funds, state mineral lease funds and grants. Many policy centers also generate support by doing contract research for the state, and school boards. So far, FOCUS has deliberately not taken on contract work, says Murphy. Until we get established and gain credibility, we will not work for vested interests." 4 1 |