Published in the May 2006 American Longwall Magazine
Longtime industry veteran Güner Gürtunca was named director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) in February. Dr Gürtunca had served as the laboratory’s acting director since July 2004 and replaces Dr Jeffery Kohler in the permanent seat. Kohler was named associate director for mining and construction at the institute in 2005.
Gürtunca initially joined PRL as a senior research fellow. Prior to that appointment, he held the position of mining division director with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an international agency in South Africa, for seven years.
It was during his time in South Africa that he also gained experience in the country’s gold mines as a rock mechanic engineer, having joined the Chamber of Mines Research Organization (COMRO) in 1987 as a rock mechanics researcher.
Gürtunca’s education has taken him across the globe as well. In 1984, he obtained his PhD in mining engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where he conducted doctoral research in coal mine subsidence.
He received his BSc and MSc degrees in mining engineering from Middle East Technical University in Turkey in 1976 and 1978. While living in Turkey, Gürtunca gained additional mining production experience in the country’s coal operations during the late 1970s, serving as shift superintendent and mine foreman.
Gürtunca noted there are many areas of research and development he is anxious to focus on as the new PRL director. All of these include “technology and people”, the integral parts of the future of mine health and safety and, in turn, the industry, he said.
Of the 75,000 miners in the United States, mining accidents average about 1 in 3000 to 4000, Gürtunca said, which is commendable given technological advances, but is not good enough.
“In general, US mines are among the safest in the world, equal to those in Canada and Australia, but what the public is telling us is they would like to see 1 in 3000 to 4000 become 1 in 30,000 to 40,000 ... They won’t tolerate more mine disasters [like Sago].”
On the “technology and people” front, noted Gürtunca, his priority is to have an impact. “In my time, I would like to see us make a difference in the safety and health of mine workers. We [can] have a positive impact with the technologies and new knowledge we generate.”
One specific topic at the top of his list is mine explosion prevention. “Our first action should be to prevent explosions from happening and then also look at the needs of emergency response and rescue.”
Other items Gürtunca said he would focus on include escape strategies for mine workers; occupational health issues such as diesel particulate, respirable coal dust and hazardous gases; and noise and hearing loss issues, as well as emerging issues such as musculoskeletal disorders. All are under the current research program at the NIOSH PRL.
As mining progresses, he said, inevitable issues will be deeper mines, thinner seams and less-than-ideal geologic conditions. “We are studying these and trying to understand what kind of coal seams we will be mining and ... the implications of that on the health and safety of US mine workers.”
The future of the NIOSH PRL is also something Gürtunca said he intends to focus on, as nearly half the staff at the research campus are currently approaching eligibility for retirement – a problem very similar to the country’s mining workforce. “A lot of very good researchers are retiring. It’s already happening here, and it’s a very high priority to me to continue to use ‘succession planning’ and also build new capacity in this organization.”
As he works on that goal, he wants to work to improve the industry skills crisis as well. “While we’re trying to build our own capacity, we’d like to assist the mining industry in developing the younger miners entering the workforce to fill the gap created by the retirements of the experienced, older miners.”
