The problem of increasing the productivity of social labor has always been a key issue. However, in the conditions of developed socialism, when the material and technical basis of communism is being created, the task of accelerating the rate of growth of labor productivity has acquired special significance and new content. In the period of scientific and technological revolution, increased opportunities of the national economy and a significant increase in the welfare of workers provided high rates of growth of labor productivity in all sectors of material production.

For a more complete identification of reserves of labor productivity growth, the photograph of the working day is of great importance. However, the method used in the mining industry to analyze the results of workday photography and design a normal balance is reduced to identifying only direct (apparent) losses of working time. Time losses associated with unproductive use of equipment, incomplete use of the main and auxiliary time, remain undiscovered.

The importance of preparatory workings in increasing labor productivity in the coal industry is great. Being ahead of cleaning works, preparatory workings create coal reserves, ready for excavation, than provide normal and uninterrupted operation of the field, rational use of mechanisms and high labor productivity in cleaning works.