The University of Arizona's public health college and its mineral resources institute will use a $1.6 million grant from by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to help improve mine safety training.

The federal grant will be used to develop new training methods for mine workers that include computer games. The games will be designed to simulate a real-life mining environment, allowing mine workers to go experience situations and environments they may encounter on the job.
The so-called "serious games" will be incorporated into training provided by the university.

They will collaborate with a Tucson-based training company, the office of the Arizona State Mine Inspector, mining companies and others to create a national network to share best safety practices.