Improving Self-Escape from Underground Coal Mines (2013) / Chapter Skim
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3 Understanding Self-Escape
3 Understanding Self-Escape
Pages 37-62
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From page 37... ...
These relationships are examined to optimize safety and performance and to determine better ways to train people: they are particularly important to examine for complex environments that are high stress and potentially life-threatening. We begin the chapter with discussion of the context of past mine emergencies in which self-escape took place.
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From page 38... ...
Since the 2006 MINER Act, a number of safety improvements have been made to emergency preparedness in underground coal mines. Mines have increased their supply of self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs)
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From page 39... ...
Explosions, explosions in sealed areas, fires triggered by belt slippages, rock falls, lightning strikes, water inundation, and roof/rock falls have all necessitated the evacuation of miners from underground coal mines (U.S. Department of Labor, 2002, 2003a, 2003b, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c, 2011; West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety, and Training, 2006; United Mine Workers of America, 2011, n.d.)
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From page 40... ...
. Mine Environment During an Emergency A great deal of variability exists across underground coal mines on many dimensions: geologic features of the seam (dip, undulations, seam thickness variations, etc.)
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From page 41... ...
In several incidents, the mantrip could not be used or later became unavailable because of heavy smoke or debris on the track, and the miners had to travel out of the mines on foot. Similarly, in fires in which the fire or heat destroyed equipment, communication was lost or incomplete (e.g., in the Fairfax Mine fire underground miners could hear the surface but the surface could not hear them)
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From page 42... ...
They are a highly cohesive population with a special bond. We know from the research that leaders emerge in emergency situations and that these people are not necessarily the day-to-day leaders.
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From page 43... ...
The preceding discussion summarized what the committee learned about the nature of self-escape from past emergencies and disasters (U.S. Department of Labor, 2002, 2003a, 2003b, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c, 2011; West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety, and Training, 2006; United Mine Workers of America, 2011, n.d.)
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From page 44... ...
Another approach that would be needed to supplement critical incidents analysis is what can be termed task analysis. In such an analysis for self-escape, the goal would be to describe the sequence of events, decision points, and actions taken by miners who are confronted with an emergency from which escape is mandatory, without regard to successful or unsuccessful outcomes (Brannick et al., 2007)
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From page 45... ...
Although this approach is likely to be excessive for all escape decisions, it may be helpful in understanding the decision making at one or two critical junctures, both in the mine and for surface personnel. A key outcome of a detailed systematic task analysis, as indicated above, is the precise identification of KSAOs critical to a successful selfescape.
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From page 46... ...
46 IMPROVING SELF-ESCAPE FROM UNDERGROUND COAL MINES problem conditions actions decision points and information go to another line of tasks FIGURE 3-1 Self-escape reference task exercise. NOTE: CO = carbon monoxide; SCSR = self-contained self-rescuers.
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From page 48... ...
Individual Miners Individual miners enter the mining industry along a well-traveled route of training in the job tasks required by the different technologies and in the safe practices required to protect them and their coworkers. New miners wear a different colored hard hat so they can be recognized by all miners as in training, such as the "red hats" in West Virginia (West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety, and Training, n.d.)
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From page 49... ...
Groups or Teams The group cohesion and social solidarity of coal miners in their typical environment affects escape behavior when a group of miners confronts an emergency (Vaught, 1991; Vaught et al., 2000)
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From page 50... ...
As illustrated in the simplified task analysis delineated above, the information exchanged between miners and communication center personnel (if clearly, correctly, and successfully communicated) informs the choices made by the escaping miners at critical junctions in the process.
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From page 51... ...
. The effectiveness of an escape process will be influenced by the extent to which the communication center roles are clear to all, the personnel have been trained to sort and transmit reliable information, and the available resources have been properly aligned with the information needs of the miners, the emergency personnel, and miners' families.
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From page 52... ...
, which have a full face mask rather than a mouthpiece, are gaining wide acceptance in the Australian mining industry. They offer the capacity to overcome a number of the issues when using a closed-circuit SCSR, including the heat-generated, limited flow rate available, and the user's inability to communicate with spoken words.
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From page 53... ...
Information about air quality in nearby areas is much harder to acquire. In the United States, fixed gas monitoring is usually located only in the conveyor roadways to detect carbon monoxide from conveyor belt heating.
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From page 54... ...
Examples of these include glow sticks and chemical light sources that last 8-12 hours, and passive tactile location and direction indicators embedded in the physical mine environment itself. An example of the latter would be a metal configuration of rivets on the door frames indicating outby direction.
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From page 55... ...
. Vision. Since low light and heavy smoke are quite possible in mine emergencies, miners would need equipment and technologies to protect and supplement vision.
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From page 56... ...
. As noted throughout the report, communication between miners and a surface communication center in an emergency is critical so that miners have real-time information essential to address the situation and to achieve safe self-escape.
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From page 57... ...
. The committee is concerned that many task force recommendations for improving mine safety technology, such as those from BOX 3-1 Communication Technology Needs and Gaps Integrated Primary and Secondary Communication Systems to Improve System Survivability ü Mine-specific modeling and simulation tools ü Improved modeling of the communication links ü Better understanding of secondary systems ü Shared definition and quantitative measure of survivability ü Develop mine-specific modeling tools to be able to assess survivability for: – Any mine configuration – Any installed communication and tracking technology or combinations of technologies – Various types of disasters in various locations within the mine – Various location of miners Primary Systems • Similar to conventional radio handsets • Use small antennas • Wearable devices • Long battery life • Sufficient throughput for general operations Secondary Systems • Unconventional radios • Unconventional signal propagation • Require large antennas (not wearable)
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From page 58... ...
, have remained "in progress" since they were made, now more than 5 years ago. Refuge Chambers Refuge chambers originated in South Africa in the 1970s, and they have been common in the metalliferous mining industry worldwide for more than 20 years (Underground Coal Mining Safety Research Collaboration, 2003)
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From page 59... ...
• Communication: Communication during an emergency that is suc cinct and effective is essential. Thus, natural verbal communication should be enabled between the surface communication center and the miners, as well as between all miners within an area.
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From page 60... ...
• Directional Technology: Directional information that is usable even under poor visual and communication-deficient conditions is needed to direct miners to escapeways, rescue chambers, additional supplied air devices, man doors, etc. Underground cues to such locations can be provided with simple technology such as lifelines and passive tactile indicators embedded in the physical mine en vironment itself to provide real-time information to an escaping miner.
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From page 61... ...
Furthermore, NIOSH should allocate funds for research and development to improve the functionality of emer gency supplies of breathable air, with special focus devoted to resolving a wide range of issues including • verbal communication, • positive pressure, • facial hair, • device weight and size minimization, • device changeover or air replenishment in toxic environments, • fit testing where applicable, and • adequate vision through clearing or removal of condensation. RECOMMENDATION 3: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and technology companies should accelerate efforts to develop technologies that enhance self-escape.
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From page 62... ...
62 IMPROVING SELF-ESCAPE FROM UNDERGROUND COAL MINES technologies that are used in other industrial sectors and global mar kets. They should collaborate in convening a joint industry, labor, and government working group to identify a range of mechanisms to reduce or eliminate any barriers to technology approval and certification, which should include exploring opportunities to cooperate with other international approval organizations to harmonize U.S.
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