The briefing documents on this site are organized into four main chapters reflecting the four key areas of background information on the Mining Program:
- What is the Mining Program?
- What does the Mining Program do?
- What has the Mining Program accomplished?
- What will the Mining Program accomplish?
The first question addresses the type of research conducted in the mining program and the resources that can be brought to bear on the execution of this research. The basis for the research is presented in the section entitled "Research Needs." The mining research plan is the first step in moving from the safety and health needs of the mineworker to research projects to address those needs. This plan is described in the section entitled "Research Plan." The resources available include the research staff, funding, and the laboratories and major equipment, and these are characterized in the sections entitled "Human Resources," "Funding,"and "Physical Infrastructure," respectively.
The second question addresses the processes of developing and executing projects. The process of building and maintaining the research portfolio is described in the "Project Planning and Evaluation" section. The section "R&D Portfolio" is a compendium of the "mining" research projects, which provides a one-page description of each project. The "Stakeholders and Customers" section identifies many of the customer and stakeholder groups who have significant interactions with the program in one or more of the following roles: drivers for the type of research and prevention activities in which we engage, consumers of our products and services, and collaborators in the conduct of our research projects. Many of our research collaborations are listed in the "Partnerships" section.
The third question addresses the conversion of resources into useful products and services that have improved mineworker safety and health. This chapter contains the evidence to support the contribution of the Mining Program to improvements in mineworker safety and health. Specifically, this chapter establishes causal relationships from research projects, outputs of these projects, and intermediate outcomes created by project outputs, to the safety or health strategic program outcome. These strategic program outcomes are organized by strategic research goals.
Finally, the fourth question addresses the future impact of the mining program. This chapter is structured similarly to the previous chapter, which addressed past achievements, except that it attempts to show a plausible connection between recent and near-future project outputs and future outcomes.
Visit the site map to get a specific overview of the site layout with links to the major document sections.