PURPOSE:  To facilitate the development of new roof support technologies through industry partnerships with various support manufacturers, and to ensure that these new support technologies meet basic safety standards before they are commercialized for use in underground mines.

RESEARCH SUMMARY:  Ground control is a fundamental aspect of all underground mining. Historically, between 30 and 40 pct of the fatalities in underground mines are caused by the unstable roof rock falling in on the miner, and this percentage has been increasing in recent years. Roof support systems are routinely installed in all mines in an effort to prevent these catastrophic roof falls from occurring. Due to the importance of ground control, roof support manufacturers continually strive to develop new roof support technologies that provide superior ground control at less cost. Our goal is to make sure that new support technologies are properly designed to ensure the safety of mineworkers. Through a cooperative program with the various support manufacturers, each new support technology is rigorously tested in NIOSH's unique Mine Roof Simulator. During the development of a new support system, this testing identifies design deficiencies so that they can be corrected. Once the support system satisfactorily passes this testing protocol, then the performance characteristics and its limitations are determined in order to optimize the safe use of this support in the mine. Nineteen new or modified roof support systems produced by seven different companies were evaluated this past year. These products are then implemented into the NIOSH Support Technology Optimization Program (STOP). This is a design software system that allows anyone to compare the performance of the various products and to match the appropriate support with the conditions in a particular mine to provide the most effective and safe ground control possible. NIOSH also provides technical guidance to the Mine Safety and Health Administration regarding the approval of new support technologies and participates in several technology transfer efforts each year to promote the safety advantages of these improvements in roof support.