Insights from our peer-reviewed journal | Compiled by Megan Skrip - 25 September 2026

A new guide outlines failure types and workflow assessments to help underground mines design tailored face support and protect workers from rockfalls

Rockbursts and falls of ground at heading faces pose considerable risks to workers in underground mines. A range of face support options exist to prevent these hazards, but their suitability depends on the mine operation and the type of likely failure—itself affected by rock characteristics (such as hardness, abundance of joints and seismicity) and the particular heading face circumstances (including dimensions and stress levels).

This paper provides a concise, illustrative guide to ground failure types and how they occur. It also outlines a suggested workflow for assessing the stability of a heading face advanced with drilling and blasting, methods for evaluating worker risk and options for designing face supports suited for different conditions, all with the aim of helping mine operations improve worker safety.

“It is common knowledge that workers are exposed to hazards of loose rock or fall of ground every time work is performed at the face,” wrote Philip Dirige, author of the paper and senior specialist, ground control at Workplace Safety North in Ontario. But rather than ignoring near-misses and injuries, he explained, they should be analyzed as data to identify higher-risk steps of the development cycle where face support should be installed to best reduce worker exposure to hazards in the future.

Read the paper: “Suggested methodology for evaluating heading face stability and face support design options,” P. Dirige, Vol. 16, No. 1

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