Evaluating of Safety and Economic Challenges in Dimensional Stone Quarries of West-Azerbaijan Province Using FMEA Method

Nowadays, many of Iran's dimensional stone quarries are affected by safety hazards, economic risks (such as: market demand decline, reducing of the production quality, increasing of production costs and raising of the final price of the product). This has led to a decline in production capacity or the abandonment of dimensional stone mines. So study these problems and safety hazards is very necessary to improve the status of mines and increase exports rates. The current study is a new approach to introducing economic problems alongside safety hazards for dimensional stone mines of West-Azerbaijan province. It also offers solutions to these problems. In this study, the safety and economic hazards were first identified. Then, the risk severity, probability of occurrence and probability of risk in 10 dimensional stone mines of West-Azerbaijan province were assessed by completing a questionnaire. The risk scores of each risk were determined using the FMEA risk assessment method. The results showed that volatility in mining activities laws, mineral prices, housing market, fixed capital, working capital, financing, renting of extractive products to processing plants and the impact of policy on mining economy including the risk is over 80 (high risk area). Of course, by formulating and implementing the right policies we can guide the construction stone industry to a safe margin from an economic point of view.