Scientists try to recreate Sago seals for third test blast planned for Friday
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A third experimental blast -- the first to try to replicate conditions at West Virginia's Sago mine where 12 miners died in January -- is scheduled for Friday at the Lake Lynn Laboratory experimental mine in Fayette County.
This time, scientists will try to recreate both the placement and construction of the seals at Sago.
The experimental blast is part of a series designed to determine why a methane explosion behind a sealed off portion of the Sago mine destroyed the seal, killing one miner outright and trapping 12 others.
In particular, investigators will look at whether poor construction or substandard materials contributed to the seal failure, or if the explosion exceeded a force of 20 pounds per square inch, or psi.
When the seals were built at Sago in December, the federal standard for new seals was 20 psi. On July 19, federal mining officials increased the standard to 50 psi in response to the Jan. 2 explosion at Sago and a May 20 explosion at Kentucky's Darby mine that killed five miners.
According to a copy of the Test No. 3 Protocol obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Friday's explosion will subject four seals -- two constructed of Omega Block seals in similar fashion to those at Sago -- to both a static and a pressure pulse of about 20 psi.
To simulate the Sago seals, investigators will apply unmixed mortar on the mine floor, they will not put mortar on vertical joints, and the installation of wood planks and wedges between the Omega Blocks and the mine roof will be slightly different from the approved seal plan.
Another Omega Block seal, built according to 1992 federal standards, and a concrete seal will be located in crosscuts. One of the Sago Omega block seals also will be built in a crosscut, where the explosion's force will pass by from the side.
The other Sago Omega Block seal will be in direct line of the explosion, as happened at Sago.
The testing is being done jointly by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training.
In the first test blast April 15, scientists constructed three seals in the crosscuts, as was done in the original tests. One of the seals was made of 40-inch thick Omega Blocks, the same material used at Sago and Darby. A second seal was made of concrete and the third was a hybrid. Each of the seals withstood a blast force from the side of about 23 pounds per square inch.
The second blast test, on June 15, included an Omega Block seal built in front of the blast -- and it was obliterated by a force exceeding 50 psi.
Dirk Fillpot, MSHA spokesman, said the test blasts are expected to continue through the summer.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
A welder was killed Sunday at a Randolph County coal preparation plant, adding to a mining industry death toll that is already West Virginia’s highest in 15 years.
Jermey T. Heckler, 30, was welding and grinding on a tire rim when the pressurized tire blew up, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Heckler’s hometown was not immediately available.
Heckler’s death is the 37th coal-mining fatality in the U.S. so far in 2006, and it occurred as two of MSHA’s top officials revealed they are leaving their posts.
Ray McKinney, MSHA’s administrator for coal mine health and safety, will be returning to a spot as manager of the agency’s district office in Norton, Va.
And Jesse Cole has announced that he is retiring from his position as district manager of the MSHA Mount Hope office, which oversees West Virginia’s southern coalfields.
So far, President Bush has not been able to win Senate confirmation for Richard Stickler, his nominee to replace Dave Lauriski, who left the agency’s top job, assistant secretary of labor for MSHA, shortly after the 2004 election.
Sunday’s explosion in West Virginia occurred around 3 p.m. at the Star Bridge Preparation Plant at Mill Creek, operated by Carter Roag Coal Co., according to the preliminary MSHA report.
Heckler worked for Circle M Enterprises Inc., a contractor that operated a truck garage on the preparation plant site, the MSHA report said.
James Dean, acting director of the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, said that the tire had not been deflated before the welding work began.
“That’s an explosion hazard, and it did explode,” Dean said Monday. “The normal process is to deflate the tire.”
Over the past 10 years, MSHA records list at least four similar fatal accidents in the nation’s metal and nonmetal mines.
In one of those four deaths, MSHA investigators faulted the company for not providing proper equipment for inflating tires. In another, the agency concluded that a supervisor “engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence” when he instructed a miner to cut a slot in a brake drum, which ignited gases in the adjacent tire.
During the Carter Roag plant’s most recent inspection, in February, MSHA cited Circle M Enterprises with four safety violations, including one for performing maintenance on raised equipment that had not yet been locked in place.
In a 1996 handbook on the dangers of working with mine vehicle tires, MSHA said that even a tire that has been deflated can explode under certain circumstances.
Heat can decompose the tire or rubber liner, creating an explosive mixture of gases.
“Tire assemblies should therefore never be welded, brazed or cut,” the MSHA booklet said. “The safest procedure is to never apply heat to any rim or rim/hub assembly that has an inflated or deflated tire mounted on it.”
Carter Roag is owned by Bristol, Va.-based United Coal. Circle M Enterprises is based in Philippi.
Nationwide, Sunday’s accident is the 37th coal-mining death so far in 2006. That is the most since 2001, when 42 U.S. coal miners died on the job.
Under the nationwide MSHA count, West Virginia leads the nation with 20 coal-mining deaths this year. In their count, state officials also include the July 21 death of a security guard found in a holding pond near Marmet, making their total 21 fatalities.
Either figure puts the state’s death toll at its highest since 1991, when 22 miners were killed.
Nineteen of the coal deaths came in the explosions at the Sago Mine in Upshur County and the Darby Mine in Harlan County, Ky., and in a fire at the Aracoma Mine in Logan County. Various investigations of those accidents are ongoing, and the deaths have brought loud cries for tougher mine safety enforcement.
In a Friday e-mail message to MSHA employees, McKinney said that he was returning to the Norton, Va., job to be closer to his family. McKinney ran the Norton office from 1994 until moving to agency headquarters in 2002.
He began his federal career in 1976 as a coal mine inspector in Whitesburg, Ky.
McKinney did not return a phone call Monday.
“I’m just getting out,” said Cole, a 37-year veteran of federal mine safety agencies. “It’s a retirement.”
Cole, a native of Coal City, began his career as an electrical inspector in the Mount Hope office.
Staff writer Ken Ward Jr.’s continuing coverage of mine safety is being supported by a fellowship from the Alicia Patterson Foundation.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Two Kanawha County men who allegedly entered a closed Kellys Creek mine to steal scrap metal Saturday were found alive Monday night, State Police confirmed.
Rescue crews were about 3,000 feet deep inside the mine when they located the two in the closed underground coal mine around 9:15 p.m.
Rescuers were led to the men by carbon dioxide put out by a fire they built for light and heat. State Police Trooper R.H. Greene said they were barely recognizable because they were covered with dust and soot.
“I think they’re suffering from a little bit of dehydration but other than that they seem to be in pretty good shape,” said Trooper A.C. Nichols of the Quincy detachment.
Franklin Johnson, 44, and Glen Edelman, 39, both of the Cedar Grove area, had last been seen Saturday, State Police and family members said. Family members said they told them they planned to enter the closed mine to hunt for scrap metal to sell.
At some point their lights went out and they were lost in the darkness, said Shane Harvey, an attorney for Massey Energy, the property owner.
“I don’t know if you would call it a miracle, but they were very lucky,” Harvey said.
The two had some luck in surviving the two-day ordeal. “As far as actual drinking water, one of them indicated he found a couple of bottles of water down there and one was drinking from the mine water,” Nichols said. “They didn’t take anything in there with them.”
Nichols said the two men entered the mine about 8 a.m. Saturday. They had gained access through a small ventilation shaft that Harvey called the size of “spider hole,” while a trooper called it as small as “a groundhog hole.”
While medics immediately checked the two out, Nichols said they were being transported to a Charleston hospital and would be charged with some type of crime. He was not certain what crime until prosecutors could be consulted.
“When mine rescuers found them inside, one of them said, ‘Thank you all for your rescue,’” Greene said.
“One of the individuals said he knew he was going to jail , but he was happy to be rescued,” said Harvey. “We hope there are trespassing charges. It’s very dangerous to break into a mine. They really risked their lives for very little.”
Once outside they thanked others. “They thanked Massey and everybody involved for the rescue and that was about it,” Nichols said.
The two made it to the surface about 9:45 p.m., Greene said. Families were notified about an hour later.
“We waited until we could actually confirm [they were alive],” Nichols said.
Troopers walked off the hill at 10:58 p.m. to a white minivan and told Johnson’s family he was alive. Family members made no comment, got back in the vehicle and closed the door.
Family members had huddled outside the coal company property, which was secured by private guards.
The two men had started the fire at some point with a cigarette lighter and were burning rubber, State Police said.
“It may have led [rescuers] in the right direction, but you’re concerned with air quality and visibility,” Nichols said, adding that Massey workers would have to go back inside to extinguish any fires.
Rescue squads were not able to enter the abandoned mine until after using an excavator to open a large enough shaft, Harvey said. That was accomplished about 5 p.m.
Johnson’s sister-in-law, Holly Johnson, 26, said early Monday that he stopped at her house Saturday morning to borrow a flashlight. Franklin Johnson told his brother Jimmy, who is Holly Johnson’s husband, that he was going to the mine to look for scrap metal, she said.
“We didn’t think nothing of it,” Holly Johnson said. “He’s always looking for ways to get money, to pay the bills and eat.”
However, Franklin Johnson doesn’t normally go into mines. He usually hunts for metal shavings and other items outside, she said.
A friend told the couple Monday morning that Franklin Johnson had gone into the mine and hadn’t come back out, Holly Johnson said.
Trooper Greene said rescuers found tools and some amount of copper cable while going inside the mine. Trooper Nichols said officers had not had enough time to interview the two Monday.
The men weren’t reported missing until Monday because it’s not unusual for them to be gone for a couple of days without notifying friends and family, said Nichols. “They kind of bounce around,” he said.
The mine, which is owned by Massey Energy Inc., is no longer in operation. It was formerly known as the Donaldson No. 15 Mine, said Caryn Gresham, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training.
Massey sent a local mine rescue crew and another crew from eastern Kentucky to search the mine, along with officials from the state mine safety office. The state Department of Environmental Protection also sent a representative to the scene, a spokeswoman said.
In the last five years, more than 160 people across the country have died in abandoned mines. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration keeps a list — cobbled together from newspaper articles and other media reports — on its Web site. No federal agency investigates the deaths fully.
Most of the fatal accidents are drownings. Water collects in mine shafts and open pits companies leave behind. People fall in and drown. Others use open pits as swimming holes, and drown when they can’t climb out because the walls are sheer rock.
Other deaths involve ATV accidents or falls into vertical mine shafts that can be hundreds of feet deep.
In May 2003, OSM published a study that said 1.2 million Americans live within a half mile of a dangerous abandoned mine site.
“These are not merely ‘ugly landscapes’ that need to be made more attractive,” said then-OSM Director Jeff Jarrett. “These are serious, life-threatening, high-priority hazards.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Staff writer Ken Ward contributed to this story.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
FYI--South African Coal research
bkb
South Africa
--- USMRA <usmra@...> wrote:
> Scientists try to recreate Sago seals for third test
> blast planned for Friday
> Tuesday, August 01, 2006
>
> By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
>
>
>
> A third experimental blast -- the first to try to
> replicate conditions at West Virginia's Sago mine
> where 12 miners died in January -- is scheduled for
> Friday at the Lake Lynn Laboratory experimental mine
> in Fayette County.
>
> This time, scientists will try to recreate both the
> placement and construction of the seals at Sago.
>
> The experimental blast is part of a series designed
> to determine why a methane explosion behind a sealed
> off portion of the Sago mine destroyed the seal,
> killing one miner outright and trapping 12 others.
>
> In particular, investigators will look at whether
> poor construction or substandard materials
> contributed to the seal failure, or if the explosion
> exceeded a force of 20 pounds per square inch, or
> psi.
>
> When the seals were built at Sago in December, the
> federal standard for new seals was 20 psi. On July
> 19, federal mining officials increased the standard
> to 50 psi in response to the Jan. 2 explosion at
> Sago and a May 20 explosion at Kentucky's Darby mine
> that killed five miners.
>
> According to a copy of the Test No. 3 Protocol
> obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Friday's
> explosion will subject four seals -- two constructed
> of Omega Block seals in similar fashion to those at
> Sago -- to both a static and a pressure pulse of
> about 20 psi.
>
> To simulate the Sago seals, investigators will apply
> unmixed mortar on the mine floor, they will not put
> mortar on vertical joints, and the installation of
> wood planks and wedges between the Omega Blocks and
> the mine roof will be slightly different from the
> approved seal plan.
>
> Another Omega Block seal, built according to 1992
> federal standards, and a concrete seal will be
> located in crosscuts. One of the Sago Omega block
> seals also will be built in a crosscut, where the
> explosion's force will pass by from the side.
>
> The other Sago Omega Block seal will be in direct
> line of the explosion, as happened at Sago.
>
> The testing is being done jointly by the National
> Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the
> federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and
> the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety
> and Training.
>
> In the first test blast April 15, scientists
> constructed three seals in the crosscuts, as was
> done in the original tests. One of the seals was
> made of 40-inch thick Omega Blocks, the same
> material used at Sago and Darby. A second seal was
> made of concrete and the third was a hybrid. Each of
> the seals withstood a blast force from the side of
> about 23 pounds per square inch.
>
> The second blast test, on June 15, included an Omega
> Block seal built in front of the blast -- and it was
> obliterated by a force exceeding 50 psi.
>
> Dirk Fillpot, MSHA spokesman, said the test blasts
> are expected to continue through the summer.
>
>
___________________________________________________________
> United States Mine Rescue Association
> www.usmra.com
>
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
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One
has to wonder when species selection kicks in. Aside from entering an abondoned
coal, you then light a fire????????
cheers
Jason
-----Original Message----- From: MineRescue@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:MineRescue@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of USMRA Sent:
Tuesday, 1 August 2006 4:05 PM To:
minerescue@yahoogroups.com Subject: [USMRA] Two men found alive in
abandoned Kanawha mine
Two Kanawha County men who allegedly entered a
closed Kellys Creek mine to steal scrap metal Saturday were found alive Monday
night, State Police confirmed.
Rescue crews were about 3,000 feet deep inside
the mine when they located the two in the closed underground coal mine around
9:15 p.m.
Rescuers were led to the men by carbon dioxide
put out by a fire they built for light and heat. State Police Trooper R.H.
Greene said they were barely recognizable because they were covered with dust
and soot.
“I think they’re suffering from a little bit of
dehydration but other than that they seem to be in pretty good shape,” said
Trooper A.C. Nichols of the Quincy detachment.
Franklin Johnson, 44, and Glen Edelman, 39, both
of the Cedar Grove area, had last been seen Saturday, State Police and family
members said. Family members said they told them they planned to enter the
closed mine to hunt for scrap metal to sell.
At some point their lights went out and they were
lost in the darkness, said Shane Harvey, an attorney for Massey Energy, the
property owner.
“I don’t know if you would call it a miracle, but
they were very lucky,” Harvey said.
The two had some luck in surviving the two-day
ordeal. “As far as actual drinking water, one of them indicated he found a
couple of bottles of water down there and one was drinking from the mine
water,” Nichols said. “They didn’t take anything in there with
them.”
Nichols said the two men entered the mine about 8
a.m. Saturday. They had gained access through a small ventilation shaft that
Harvey called the size of “spider hole,” while a trooper called it as small as
“a groundhog hole.”
While medics immediately checked the two out,
Nichols said they were being transported to a Charleston hospital and would be
charged with some type of crime. He was not certain what crime until
prosecutors could be consulted.
“When mine rescuers found them inside, one of
them said, ‘Thank you all for your rescue,’” Greene said.
“One of the individuals said he knew he was going
to jail , but he was happy to be rescued,” said Harvey. “We hope there are
trespassing charges. It’s very dangerous to break into a mine. They really
risked their lives for very little.”
Once outside they thanked others. “They thanked
Massey and everybody involved for the rescue and that was about it,” Nichols
said.
The two made it to the surface about 9:45 p.m.,
Greene said. Families were notified about an hour later.
“We waited until we could actually confirm [they
were alive],” Nichols said.
Troopers walked off the hill at 10:58 p.m. to a
white minivan and told Johnson’s family he was alive. Family members made no
comment, got back in the vehicle and closed the door.
Family members had huddled outside the coal
company property, which was secured by private guards.
The two men had started the fire at some point
with a cigarette lighter and were burning rubber, State Police said.
“It may have led [rescuers] in the right
direction, but you’re concerned with air quality and visibility,” Nichols
said, adding that Massey workers would have to go back inside to extinguish
any fires.
Rescue squads were not able to enter the
abandoned mine until after using an excavator to open a large enough shaft,
Harvey said. That was accomplished about 5 p.m.
Johnson’s sister-in-law, Holly Johnson, 26, said
early Monday that he stopped at her house Saturday morning to borrow a
flashlight. Franklin Johnson told his brother Jimmy, who is Holly Johnson’s
husband, that he was going to the mine to look for scrap metal, she
said.
“We didn’t think nothing of it,” Holly Johnson
said. “He’s always looking for ways to get money, to pay the bills and
eat.”
However, Franklin Johnson doesn’t normally go
into mines. He usually hunts for metal shavings and other items outside, she
said.
A friend told the couple Monday morning that
Franklin Johnson had gone into the mine and hadn’t come back out, Holly
Johnson said.
Trooper Greene said rescuers found tools and some
amount of copper cable while going inside the mine. Trooper Nichols said
officers had not had enough time to interview the two Monday.
The men weren’t reported missing until Monday
because it’s not unusual for them to be gone for a couple of days without
notifying friends and family, said Nichols. “They kind of bounce around,” he
said.
The mine, which is owned by Massey Energy Inc.,
is no longer in operation. It was formerly known as the Donaldson No. 15 Mine,
said Caryn Gresham, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Miners’ Health
Safety and Training.
Massey sent a local mine rescue crew and another
crew from eastern Kentucky to search the mine, along with officials from the
state mine safety office. The state Department of Environmental Protection
also sent a representative to the scene, a spokeswoman said.
In the last five years, more than 160 people
across the country have died in abandoned mines. The U.S. Mine Safety and
Health Administration keeps a list — cobbled together from newspaper articles
and other media reports — on its Web site. No federal agency investigates the
deaths fully.
Most of the fatal accidents are drownings. Water
collects in mine shafts and open pits companies leave behind. People fall in
and drown. Others use open pits as swimming holes, and drown when they can’t
climb out because the walls are sheer rock.
Other deaths involve ATV accidents or falls into
vertical mine shafts that can be hundreds of feet deep.
In May 2003, OSM published a study that said 1.2
million Americans live within a half mile of a dangerous abandoned mine
site.
“These are not merely ‘ugly landscapes’ that need
to be made more attractive,” said then-OSM Director Jeff Jarrett. “These are
serious, life-threatening, high-priority hazards.”
The Associated Press contributed to this
story.
Staff writer Ken Ward contributed to this
story.
___________________________________________________________ United
States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
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More mine safety funding needed, Dean says By Ken Ward Jr. Staff writer August 2, 2006
The state’s acting mine safety director wants to hire more inspectors and reopen an agency regional office in Buckhannon, according to a proposal submitted this week to Gov. Joe Manchin.
James Dean also wants additional funding to increase state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training salaries by 30 percent over the next three years.
“There are a lot of good people in this agency, and sometimes I wonder why they stay,” Dean said during an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Currently, a state inspector with about four years’ experience makes about $45,800 a year, Dean said. A federal mine inspector with the same experience makes $62,400, he said.
Dean also announced that he would be extending his stint as acting director through the end of the month. He had planned to return to his job at West Virginia University on Aug. 6.
“There are a couple of things that I want to see through and be finalized,” Dean said.
The Manchin administration is conducting a nationwide search for someone to fill the job permanently.
In mid-February, Dean stepped in as acting director after Doug Conaway resigned in what had already been one of the state’s worst mine safety years in recent memory.
Manchin ordered Dean to conduct a complete review of the agency, and recommend whatever changes were needed to make the state’s mines the safest in the nation.
Since then, the state continues to lead the U.S. in coal-mining deaths with 20 of the 37 fatalities nationwide. In their count, state officials also include the July 21 death of a security guard found in a holding pond near Marmet, making their total 21 fatalities. Either figure puts the state’s death toll at its highest since 1991, when 22 miners were killed.
On Tuesday, Dean discussed his recommendations after submitting a two-page list of proposals and a packet of supporting documents to the governor.
Dean said that he has not put together a total price tag for the improvements, but said they would require an increase in the agency’s roughly $6 million general revenue budget.
“There are lots of funding needs here,” Dean said. “Most of these recommendations are going to take additional resources.”
Over the past decade, the mine safety office’s budget has increased by more than 30 percent, just enough to keep pace with inflation. This year, lawmakers gave the agency the $6.01 million in general revenue money that Manchin asked for, which amounts to about a 2 percent hike for the budget year that started July 1.
The state mine safety agency also receives about $1.3 million in federal money and another $1.9 million in special revenue funds, according to state budget documents.
Dean said that reopening the Buckhannon regional office would require little new money. It was consolidated with the Fairmont office, but the office now serves 32 counties — essentially all mines north of Flatwoods, Dean said. Reopening a separate office in Buckhannon would “facilitate better service and response,” Dean said.
Dean said that he has already implemented changes in the agency’s computer system to flag mines for required periodic inspections, and to warn if inspectors are “spending excess time at a particular mine.”
The lack of such computer warnings, Dean says, led to Massey’s Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine where two miners died in a January fire — and an unspecified number of other state mines — not receiving required annual electrical inspections.
Dean proposed hiring five additional safety instructors and providing them with vehicles “necessary to visit mine sites with a focus on accident prevention through education and training.”
He also wants to hire two other new inspectors and one safety instructor, to allow other employees to focus on work as head of electrical, diesel and contract inspectors and mine rescue coordinator.
Staff writer Ken Ward Jr.’s continuing coverage of mine safety issues is being supported by a fellowship from the Alicia Patterson Foundation.
To contact Ward, use e-mail or call 304-348-1702.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Should coal companies be forced to pay an additional $220 for each worker if it could mean the difference between life and death? The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says no.
It costs $220 for each training model of the emergency oxygen devices miners carry. These simulators allow miners to feel the actual breathing resistance and heat generated by self-contained self-rescuers that they must use in emergencies when mines fill with carbon monoxide.
The toxic gas killed 11 of the 12 miners who died after the Jan. 2 explosion at the Sago Mine in Tallmansville, W.Va. It also suffocated three of five miners who died following a May 20 explosion at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Holmes Mill, Ky.
Family members of Darby survivor Paul Ledford said he told them his breathing device worked for only 10 minutes, instead of the hour it should have provided oxygen. The worker who survived Sago, Randal McCloy, Jr., said four of his co-workers could not get their breathing devices to function. Investigators later said the Sago devices operated properly and had oxygen remaining in them.
It's possible that occurred because the miners didn't really know how to use the oxygen packs. MSHA required mine companies to show each worker how to put on a self-rescuer and place the breathing tube in his mouth, but MSHA did not mandate that miners actually breathe through the devices, which cost $650.
After the Sago and Darby disasters, the United Mine Workers of America called for training that included breathing through the devices in dark, smoky circumstances replicating a mine emergency.
Mining firms in other countries, including Australia, use training models of the breathing devices, some of which are made in Monroeville, Pa. They believe a mine worker's life is worth the $220 investment.
MSHA has twice decided against forcing American companies to make that investment. It rejected such a proposal in 2001 and again this year. MSHA recently told the firms they must provide annual training in smoky conditions but said miners may simply pretend to use the devices.
Clearly, mine workers cannot depend on MSHA to ensure their safety. They must now ask state regulators, like the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mine Safety, to require training. In addition, they must vigilantly watch out for themselves. One of the breathing devices at Sago that a miner said did not work was past its expiration date. The coal company should not have given him unreliable equipment.
Even so, miners must not rely entirely on MSHA or the companies. They must check every element of their safety equipment, including expiration dates. Some day their life could depend on it.
Contests take on new meaning for mine rescue teams
NEPA News - PA,USA
August 2, 2006
Robert Frederick watched closely as a team from Kentucky worked methodically through the imaginary mine, a carefully mapped grid of metal posts and yellow tape, deciding how to locate five "victims" trapped by an unseen fire.
Frederick, who joined the Barbour County Mine Rescue team six months ago, knows his turn will come. And when it does, it won't be on the grassy, sunlit fields of Mylan Park. The clues won't be on white placards.
It will be for real.
"I'm just here to learn, said Frederick, 42, of Belington, who works at Carter-Roag Coal Co. mine near Mill Creek. "This makes me feel more confident. This helps a lot."
When accidents happen, coal miners count on all-volunteer teams of rescuers to save them. Eighteen teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia took turns Wednesday competing inside three colored-tape grids, trying to solve the same set of problems as quickly and safely as possible.
Each tackled the crisis with an identical set of clues, with carbon monoxide, methane and oxygen levels scrawled on white placards in the grass, the locations of victims on the others.
Underground, each clue has a potentially deadly consequence: If methane is a fraction off the acceptable number, it can explode. If the oxygen is a point below where it needs to be, a ventilation screen could kill a trapped miner or team member.
Teams compete not only on time, but also on judgment, mapping skills and a written test.
Regional contests like this run all summer across the country, with a national competition every other year. And with new federal requirements that coal companies have a team capable of responding to every mine within an hour, the contests will likely get bigger.
Marshall Fugate, who trains the Kentucky team that Frederick watched, said his men have worked together for at least six years and train once a month. But contests offer another chance to improve communication, consider a previously unseen problem and learn from the feedback of judges.
"This type of training is to get everybody comfortable working together _ and to get comfortable with their equipment," he said. "They're working on procedure so that they don't have to think about it."
In a crisis, he said, "It has to come naturally."
Fugate's team covers two Consol Energy mines in Kentucky, Jones Fork E-3 and Mill Creek E-3. He tracked their progress on a map as they simulated what they would do underground _ checking gases with a meter, prodding at the imaginary ribs and roof for stability.
In this scenario, another team has checked three of the mine's five entryways. The blue helmets bob as the team works through the other two, finding the first victim in 22 minutes.
When a victim is alive, the team carries him back to a fresh-air base, where medics and another team are waiting. If a victim is dead, the team tags the body, reports the location and moves on to search for a survivor.
In Tuesday's scenario, three miners die, but two are rescued.
Rod Henry, former captain and current trainer of Consol's Enlow Fork mine in southwestern Pennsylvania, said contests will take on new importance as rookies join established teams and companies form new ones. New federal laws require teams attend two regional competitions per year, so all will likely grow.
The Enlow Fork team won the national contest in 2001 and 2003, and Henry said it's been called to 13 accidents in the past five years. That includes Quecreek, where nine men were trapped underground for more than three days in 2002.
Henry was on the radio with the recovered miners, bracing them for the spectacle they saw as they rose from the earth in a rescue capsule.
The public, however, doesn't generally see the work of mine rescue teams.
"All you get is the satisfaction of doing your job," he said.
Since the accidents at West Virginia's Sago Mine, where 12 men died after a Jan. 2 explosion, and Kentucky's Darby Mine, where five men died in a May 20 blast, more miners are volunteering for rescue teams.
"I have a lot of young guys waiting in the wings," Henry said.
But he's also had men quit after their first training session _ underground, under apparatus, in smoke.
At Enlow Fork, as at other Consol mines, every applicant is reviewed by the entire team.
They depend on each other for survival, and they want to be certain rookies are joining from the heart, not for the overtime.
"The whole team votes," Henry said. "They get one thumbs down, they're out."
I was hoping someone would grasp this. And how about the way they
located them? We are a collective of minimal intelligence at times.
Lordy, lordy
Rocky Ledge
By Katie Wilson Times-West Virginian - Fairmont,WV,USA
FAIRMONT —Mine-rescue teams from all over the region are spending two days testing their skills.
The Post 5 Mine Rescue Contest began Wednesday and will finish this afternoon at Mylan Park. The event hosted 18 mine-rescue teams from companies based in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio.
The contest includes three events: mine rescue, bench and pre-shift. In the mine-rescue event, teams evaluate mock disaster scenarios.
For teams like the Eastern Associated Coal Federal No. 2 team, competition experience is invaluable. Gary
McHenry, a 33-year veteran of mine safety, serves as manager of safety and training for the team. He noted competition teams, such as the one participating in the event.
“You can’t compare competition teams to the non-competitive teams,” McHenry said. “The non-competing teams just don’t have the skills.”
He noted the competition sharpens the skills of the teams, so that if a real disaster occurs, they’re prepared. After new mine-safety laws go into effect, all mine-rescue teams will be required to compete at least twice a year, McHenry said.
The mine-rescue competition tries to be as realistic as possible. Judges write a unique scenario. The team is unaware of the scenario specifics until they walk onto the field. Teams are judged as they proceed. Each time a judge sees an error, points are deducted from the team’s score. The team with the fewest deductions wins, McHenry said.
Not only are the mine-rescue teams in place to save survivors in the event of a disaster, but they actually make the mine safe to enter as they proceed, McHenry said. They monitor gas levels, create ventilation and assess damage while searching for survivors.
Bob Brown, a 20-year mine-rescue veteran, is assisting with team training this year. He noted all the different aspects of the job, added to the extreme conditions, require a special person.
“It takes a special breed to go into a mine with black smoke pouring out,” Brown said.
United Mine Workers Association Local 1570 President John Palmer took the day off work to come to Mylan Park to support the Federal No. 2 team. Just as in sports, the teams need to hear appreciation when they come off the competition field, he said. He noted the team fulfills an important job, but one he hopes is never necessary.
“It’s a blessing to have them in the coal mines,” Palmer said. “I know they’d do whatever they have to do to get to us.”
The bench contest tests the skills of a benchman. Contest judges create problems with self-contained breathing apparatus used in mines, and benchmen must disassemble the equipment, find and solve the problem, and put the piece back together again.
In the pre-shift contest, individuals compete to show the most proficiency in pre-shift examination of coal mines. These contests take place today.
The annual event is sponsored by the Mining Extension Department at West Virginia University, Post 5, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration District 3 and the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training.
E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@....
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
I'm sure I'm reading more into this than I should. But at the risk of being overly critical, I'd like to suggest to company PR types that less is more. First rule of thumb is that the news people are writing down what you say. Like EF Hutton, when he speaks, they listen.
Mine employee in critical condition after accident
By Steve Ferris, Herald-Standard
08/03/2006
An employee at Consol Energy's Bailey Mine in Greene County was in critical condition in a Pittsburgh hospital on Tuesday, a day after an apparent electrical shock caused a burn on his left hand.
William Cox, 40, of Moundsville, W.Va., was flown to Mercy Hospital following the 11 a.m. mishap that occurred at a charging station for battery-powered vehicles, Consol spokesman Joe Cerenzia explained.
Cox was in critical condition in Mercy's Birmingham Trauma and Burn Center, said hospital spokeswoman Linda K. Ross.
Cerenzia said the injury was not life-threatening.
He said Cox, who has worked at Bailey for one year, was at a recharging station for "scoop" vehicles that haul supplies into and out of the mine when the mishap occurred.
"He had a hold of something, but we're not sure what he was holding on to," according to Cerenzia.
Members of Cox's work crew found him conscious and helped him out of the mine.
He couldn't remember what happened, but recalled the initial shock, Cerenzia said.
Investigators from state and federal agencies, and Consol are trying to determine the cause of the apparent shock, he said.
The incident occurred in an isolated part of the mine and did not impact mining operations. No one else was injured.
Consol said Bailey Mine, in Enon, Richhill Township, produced 11.1 million tons of coal in 2005 and is one of the largest underground mines in the country.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Dean to Leave Mine Office Aug. 31 Posted 8/3/2006 06:00 AM
Acting director submits report to Manchin, promises governor one more month of service.
Story by Juliet A. Terry
CHARLESTON -- Jim Dean said in February he would take the job of acting director of the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training for just six months while the state found itself a new permanent director.
That decision meant Dean should have left Charleston in July to head back at his regular job -- director of Extension and Outreach and Associate Director of the Mining Extension Program at West Virginia University.
But Dean decided to give Gov. Joe Manchin one more month. He now will leave his position and return to WVU Aug. 31. Dean presented Manchin with his own series of recommendations July 31 about how to improve the state mining office.
"This is something I'm pretty passionate about," Dean said of the report. "... I was asked by the governor to stay on until Aug. 31. I have some loose ends to tie up, and this will give them time to make a selection for the permanent director."
When asked what king of qualities the new director should have, Dean said the position is "really dynamic, so the person needs to have good energy and good organization skills."
Agency Salaries, Manpower
Dean said the state needs to increase the salaries paid at the mine office to recruit the caliber of director and inspectors needed to monitor the safety of West Virginia's coal mines.
The proposed $65,000 to $80,000 salary for the permanent director is not high enough, Dean said, to "get the right person for the job."
His report includes a letter from the state Mine Inspector Examining Board that said federal mine inspectors and state inspectors may start out earning similar salaries -- low- to mid- $40,000 range -- but federal inspectors quickly outpace their state counterparts.
"After four years the federal inspector has been advanced to $62,291 while the state inspectors' highest salary after 20+ years remains at $49,176," the letter states.
Dean proposes not only higher salaries, but more inspectors and training personnel -- people to train rescue teams and to conduct accident prevention training.
Dean also said the mine office should have its own full-time attorney, rather than a part-time lawyer, an engineering group, five additional safety instructors in addition to other additions to the mine office.
"Many of these items will require additional funding," he said.
Updating Office Technology
Dean said his stint as mining director has been challenging, to say the least. Not only has he had to spend a significant amount of time away from his wife and 11-year-old daughter, but he was charged with operating an office that lacked the kind of resources necessary for the office to function efficiently.
"My report includes a report from the Chief Technology Office (Kyle Schafer), who provided a technical assessment for our phones and computer system," he said. "Most of our stuff appears to be out of date and from surplus property."
The total cost of his recommendations to update the bare-bones office is about $316,000, Dean said.
"Some of these recommendations are not end-all solutions, but they will move the agency forward in the right direction," he said.
Other recommendations are as follows:
— Improve the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training emergency response capabilities.
— Change administrator of training and mine rescue to administrator of training and change position from politically appointed to civil service to provide continuity over time.
— Better plan and communicate mine rescue and other event participation that disrupt the inspection process to inspectors-at-large to allow better planning to ensure completion of mandated inspections.
— Improve reports from within the inspection system that provides alerts for mines not inspected according to mandates and for inspectors spending excess time at a particular mine.
— Require minimum of 16 hours of training each year for underground, surface and electrical inspectors and safety instructors on new technology, laws and other information, with eight hours of training for staff members.
Returning to WVU
Dean said he is looking forward to resuming his post at WVU, but he plans to remain involved with the state's efforts to improve the safety of its coal mines.
"There are a lot of training issues that I will continue to be involved in," he said. "It's been an interesting six months -- a personal challenge for me and a difficult time for the state and families. ... The industry and United Mine Workers of American have been very helpful. The Technology Task Force members have become friends for years."
He added that the state Coal Mine Health and Safety Board members also have a renewed relationship with the mine office.
"That working relationship is very good now," he said.
He said the state mine office will continue to investigate the cause of the explosion behind the Sago mine disaster. The office is planning to consult with a lightening expert who can examine data that is beyond the expertise of the office's mining engineers.
"I've been asked to leave no stone unturned," Dean said.
When asked whether he has any regrets about leaving the director's position, Dean admitted it was a difficult decision to make.
"I felt this was an opportunity to try and make a difference," he said. "I'm most proud of the relationships formed with the various people I've worked with. I think the WVU (mine training academy) will have a closer alliance with the state agency."
As for the families who lost loved ones in mining accidents this year, Dean said they will remain close to his heart.
"I haven't forgotten any of it and probably never will," he said. "Once you've seen it, and once you've been involved in it, I don't think you will ever forget it."
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Robert Frederick watched closely as a team from Kentucky worked methodically through the imaginary mine, a carefully mapped grid of metal posts and yellow tape, deciding how to locate five "victims" trapped by an unseen fire.
Frederick, who joined the Barbour County Mine Rescue team six months ago, knows his turn will come. And when it does, it won't be on the grassy, sunlit fields of Mylan Park. The clues won't be on white placards.
It will be for real.
"I'm just here to learn, said Frederick, 42, of Belington, who works at Carter-Roag Coal Co. mine near Mill Creek. "This makes me feel more confident. This helps a lot."
When accidents happen, coal miners count on all-volunteer teams of rescuers to save them. Eighteen teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia took turns yesterday competing inside three colored-tape grids, trying to solve the same set of problems as quickly and safely as possible.
Each tackled the crisis with an identical set of clues, with carbon monoxide, methane and oxygen levels scrawled on white placards in the grass, the locations of victims on others.
Underground, each clue has a potentially deadly consequence: If methane is a fraction off the acceptable number, it can explode. If the oxygen is a point below where it needs to be, a trapped miner or team member could die.
Teams compete not only on time, but also on judgment, mapping skills and a written test.
Regional contests run all summer across the country, with a national competition every other year. And with new federal requirements that coal companies have a team capable of responding to every mine within an hour, the contests will likely get bigger.
Marshall Fugate, who trains the Kentucky team that Frederick watched, said his men have worked together for at least six years and train once a month. Contests offer another chance to improve communication, consider a previously unseen problem and learn from the feedback of judges.
"This type of training is to get everybody comfortable working together -- and to get comfortable with their equipment," he said. "They're working on procedure so that they don't have to think about it."
In a crisis, he said, "It has to come naturally."
Fugate's team covers two Consol Energy mines in Kentucky, Jones Fork E-3 and Mill Creek E-3. He tracked their progress on a map as they simulated what they would do underground -- checking gases with a meter, prodding at the imaginary ribs and roof for stability.
In this scenario, another team had checked three of the mine's five entryways. The blue helmets bobbed as the team worked through the other two, finding the first victim in 22 minutes.
When a victim is alive, the team carries him back to a fresh-air base, where medics and another team are waiting. If a victim is dead, the team tags the body, reports the location and moves on to search for a survivor.
In yesterday's scenario, three miners died, but two were rescued.
Rod Henry, former captain and current trainer of Consol's Enlow Fork mine in southwestern Pennsylvania, said contests will take on new importance as rookies join established teams and companies form new ones. New federal laws require that teams attend two regional competitions per year.
The Enlow Fork team won the national contest in 2001 and 2003, and Henry said it's been called to 13 accidents in the past five years. That includes Quecreek in Pennsylvania, where nine men were trapped for more than three days in 2002.
Henry was on the radio with the recovered miners, bracing them for the spectacle they saw as they rose from the earth in a rescue capsule.
The public, however, doesn't generally see the work of mine rescue teams.
"All you get is the satisfaction of doing your job," he said.
Since the accidents at West Virginia's Sago Mine, where 12 men died after a Jan. 2 explosion, and Kentucky's Darby Mine, where five men died in a May 20 blast, more miners are volunteering for rescue teams.
"I have a lot of young guys waiting in the wings," Henry said. But he's also had men quit after their first training session -- underground, under apparatus, in smoke.
At Enlow Fork, as at other Consol mines, every applicant is reviewed by the entire team.
They depend on each other for survival, and they want to be certain rookies are joining from the heart.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
FRANKFORT, Ky. — State regulators have concluded their review of air packs used in Kentucky's underground mines, which revealed 134 defective breathing devices.
Cabinet spokesman Mark York said state regulators only kept track of the number of defective devices, and not of the overall number of air packs inspected, but he said early last month that thousands had been tested. At that point the devices had been tested at 174 of Kentucky's 250 underground mines.
All but one of the defective air packs removed from underground mines were manufactured by CSE Corp. of Monroeville, Pa. The CSE SR-100s also were used by miners who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after an Eastern Kentucky mine explosion in May and in the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia in January.
The review of air packs, or self-contained self rescuers, at Kentucky's mines was ordered by Gov. Ernie Fletcher after the May 20 explosion Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 mine left five miners dead. Three of them died of carbon monoxide poisoning, despite having donned their air packs.
"The review has produced the desired effect -- that is, helping to ensure the safety of our miners," said LaJuana Wilcher, secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, which oversees mine safety.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Unlike many white collar jobs...Mining is more "the squeeky wheel gets the grease" Sending just a resume is fruitless. You have to be aggressive in your job search. Phone calls and personal face to face is what gets action. Make yourself very squeeky...lol Remember that these mine employers are gettin hundreds of "Red Hat" Applications and Resumes a week. What makes yours different? what can you offer them all the others cant? What additional training are you taking now to make you more hireable? Some of these things are factors you can control...the final (hiring you) unfortunately you cant. Never give up...it usually dont happen within a month of getting your card. Anything worth having is worth waiting and working for !! It will happen Im sure !!!
Good Luck ...Becky
supertrooper2023 <supertrooper2023@...> wrote:
Man I have sent out tons of resumes tones of aplications all I want To do Is work Can anyone help????????
Do you Yahoo!? Get on board. You're invited to try the new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
Another option is to attend a mining show or conference. Like Becky said...get your face and name out there. Shake hands with people at industry events. If you don't shake a mine manager's hand while you're there (you never know, you may) you might meet someone who can help you get your resume to the top of the stack at whatever mine or operator they have connections with.
Even if there is a registration fee for an event, you'll get that back indirectly -- in the extra information you learn there through the presentations, at least, or through coming into contact with that someone who can help you. Networking, networking, networking!
good luck!
From: "Becky - Elkins, WV" <coal_miner_cutie@...> Reply-To: MineRescue@yahoogroups.com To: MineRescue@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [USMRA] I wana Pull my hair out!!!!! Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:26:19 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Originating-IP: 68.142.200.37 X-Sender: coal_miner_cutie@... Received: from bay0-mc8-f19.bay0.hotmail.com ([65.54.244.251]) by bay0-imc3-s15.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444); Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:29:20 -0700 Received: from n15a.bullet.scd.yahoo.com ([66.94.237.32]) by bay0-mc8-f19.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444); Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:28:16 -0700 Received: from [66.218.69.4] by n15.bullet.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 03 Aug 2006 19:28:56 -0000 Received: from [66.218.67.96] by t4.bullet.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 03 Aug 2006 19:28:56 -0000 Received: (qmail 84966 invoked from network); 3 Aug 2006 19:27:28 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.67.36) by m39.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 3 Aug 2006 19:27:28 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO web31104.mail.mud.yahoo.com) (68.142.200.37) by mta10.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 3 Aug 2006 19:27:27 -0000 Received: (qmail 88146 invoked by uid 60001); 3 Aug 2006 19:26:20 -0000 Received: from [170.215.136.39] by web31104.mail.mud.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:26:19 PDT
Unlike many white collar jobs...Mining is more "the squeeky wheel gets the grease" Sending just a resume is fruitless. You have to be aggressive in your job search. Phone calls and personal face to face is what gets action. Make yourself very squeeky...lol Remember that these mine employers are gettin hundreds of "Red Hat" Applications and Resumes a week. What makes yours different? what can you offer them all the others cant? What additional training are you taking now to make you more hireable? Some of these things are factors you can control...the final (hiring you) unfortunately you cant. Never give up...it usually dont happen within a month of getting your card. Anything worth having is worth waiting and working for !! It will happen Im sure !!!
'Time bomb' seals leave miners at risk, official says
Friday, August 04, 2006
By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
U.S. coal miners remain vulnerable to explosions similar to those that have killed 17 of their colleagues this year, said West Virginia's lead investigator into the Sago mine disaster.
Recent moves by federal mine safety officials to limit the danger are a step in the right direction but still represent "a kind of Band-Aid approach," said J. Davitt McAteer, who himself was head of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration under President Clinton.
"It's a partial, initial step," said Mr. McAteer this week. "It does not take care of the problems."
The problems, he said, include the hundreds of underground seals made of Omega Block, the lightweight, reinforced fiber material that failed at Sago on Jan. 2, resulting in 12 deaths, and at the Darby mine in Kentucky on May 20, where five miners died.
In his July 19 preliminary report on Sago, Mr. McAteer called on West Virginia to continue its moratorium on the use of Omega Blocks for seals, which MSHA approved for use in 1992. He also said officials should determine the number and location of existing seals and, ultimately, retrofit those seals to make them explosion-proof.
Until then, he concluded, "every sealed area in every underground coal mine in West Virginia and throughout the United States should be considered a potential time bomb -- and treated accordingly."
MSHA spokesman Dirk Fillpot yesterday said inspections of all alternative seals, and any needed remedial action, will be completed by the end of September.
Mining deaths have been on the decline in recent years. There were a record low 22 in 2005.
But since 2001, there have been three mining accidents, all of them underground explosions, that resulted in mass casualties. Thirteen miners were killed in an explosion in Brookville, Ala., in September 2001, then the 12 deaths at Sago and five at Darby.
In the five years prior to 2001, no mining incidents involved three or more deaths, according to MSHA records.
The similarities of the Sago and Darby disasters -- both involved methane explosions that destroyed a nearby Omega Block seal -- has mine safety officials scrambling to prevent another catastrophe.
But disagreements have emerged about what steps must be taken.
The same day Mr. McAteer released his preliminary report on Sago, MSHA sent a bulletin directing mine operators that all new alternative seals must withstand a force of 50 pounds per square inch, up from the previous 20 psi standard.
That begged the question: How safe are the existing seals built to meet the 20 psi standard?
Ray McKinney, MSHA administrator for coal mine safety and health, told operators that existing alternative seals must be inspected "to verify that correct construction practices were followed" and they must take steps if the air quality is potentially explosive.
That overlooks what happened at Sago, said Mr. McAteer.
"Construction is a minor part of the problem. It is the materials themselves."
Mr. McAteer was even more direct in his report, saying the Omega Blocks "should never have been approved for the purpose of containing an explosion originating in a sealed area."
Mr. Fillpot said the number and location of Omega Block seals is collected at the district offices and has not yet been aggregated at MSHA's Arlington, Va. headquarters.
But in interviews with state mining officials this week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found a wide disparity in the use of Omega Block seals in the region's coal-producing areas.
Pennsylvania has no permanent Omega Block seals in its 77 underground mines, said Joseph Sbaffoni, director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Mine Safety, although some mines may use Omega Blocks as stoppings to direct air flow in the mines.
"Personally, I never cared for these Omega Blocks because they fall apart," Mr. Sbaffoni said.
West Virginia, by contrast, has 924 Omega Block seals in 56 different mines. State officials have placed a moratorium on any new Omega Block seals and "we're trying to determine what is the best thing for us to tell the operators" about existing seals, said Caryn Gresham, spokeswoman for the West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.
Sixteen of Virginia's 118 coal mines have used Omega Blocks to construct seals, according to Michael Abbott, of the Virginia Department of Mines, Mineral and Energy. Last month, MSHA inspectors cited two Dominion Coal Corp. mines in Virginia for potentially dangerous methane levels behind Omega Block seals, and both are being rebuilt.
Following the Darby mine explosion, Kentucky officials ordered an immediate inspection of all alternative mine seals in the state's 196 underground operations. They found 463 seals, 236 of them made of Omega Block.
During that inspection, one Kentucky mine operator discovered an Omega Block seal had inexplicably blown out. The mine was shut down until its other 30 Omega Block seals were rebuilt.
That may be just the beginning.
Following this year's mining disasters, Kentucky's legislature gave state officials authority to enforce MSHA-approved seal plans. Now there are indications they may no longer approve plans that include Omega Blocks, said Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.
"With the new psi standard," said Mr. York, "there's a belief that it may eliminate the use of Omega seals."
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Viburnum, MO (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) August 3, 2006 -- A Development Miner at Fletcher Mine for The Doe Run Company’s Southeast Missouri Mining and Milling Division (SEMO), Ricky Martin is one of the company’s 20 volunteer mine rescue team members who regularly train for emergency preparedness. His dedication and skill led him to earn the National Champion Benchman title (BG174a category) last month at the 2006 National Mine Rescue Contest in Reno.
Held July 12-14, the multi-phase contest included written tests, simulated mine rescues and emergency first-aid response. The BG174a Benchman Competition stacked each team’s benchman against the others to determine who could most effectively and quickly repair a piece of equipment that contained pre-set defects that would cause it to fail. Martin competed against Benchmen from New York to New Mexico.
Garry Moore Jr., Doe Run mine equipment mechanic at Sweetwater Mine and National Champion Benchman in 2004 on the BG174a, placed sixth in the 2006 BG4 Benchman competition. This was Moore’s first time competing in the BG4 Benchman competition. (The BG4 is a newer apparatus that replaces the BG174a.)
“We congratulate Rick on his stellar first-place finish, and are certainly proud of Garry for his performance in the new BG4 category,” said Denis Murphy, safety and environmental manager at SEMO. “We are also thrilled that our Maroon Team made the final round of field competition for the first time. Congratulations to both teams, who worked very hard to prepare for this bi-annual competition. These are the professionals who spend countless hours training so we can count on them if their services are needed in an emergency.”
For more information about the 2006 National Mine Rescue Contest, visit the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Web site, www.msha.gov.
Based in St. Louis, The Doe Run Company is a privately held natural resources company dedicated to environmentally responsible mineral production, metals fabrication, recycling and reclamation. The company and its subsidiaries deliver products and services needed to provide power, protection and convenience through premium products and associated metals including lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver. As the operator of one of the world’s only multi-metal facilities and the Americas’ largest integrated lead producer, Doe Run employs more than 5,000 people, with U.S. operations in Missouri, Washington and Arizona, and Peruvian operations in Cobriza and La Oroya. Committed to sustainable development, The Doe Run Company has helped bring electrical power, business training, educational opportunities and improved telecommunications to rural communities in Peru and the U.S. For more information, visit http://www.doerun.com.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
MSHA to Digitally Reconstruct Sago Mine to Help Determine Explosive Forces Causing the Jan. 2 Disaster
8/3/2006 1:32:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Dirk Fillpot, 202-693-9406 or Amy Louviere, 202-693-9423, both of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to digitally reconstruct the Sago mine where 12 miners died following a Jan. 2 methane explosion. The digital reconstruction will help determine the overpressures of the explosion and factors contributing to the failure of the alternative seals separating the abandoned area of the mine from the active section.
"MSHA is utilizing all available technologies to help determine how the Sago tragedy occurred so we can take meaningful steps to prevent similar tragedies in the future to better protect America's miners," said David G. Dye, acting administrator of MSHA.
MSHA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center will conduct a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of the Jan. 2 methane explosion in the Sago mine to establish the overpressures and the propagation of the explosion through the mine. In the case of the Sago accident, a CFD study will allow researchers and investigators to understand the physical phenomena that would result from how various strengths of explosive forces would interact or flow in the mine.
The mathematical modeling of the Sago mine will account for features of the sealed and active areas of the mine including crosscuts and entries with gradual and abrupt changes in roof- floor heights, coal pillars with non-uniform dimensions, debris, and ventilation stoppings and seals. This precise modeling of the Sago mine will allow investigators to better calculate the strength of the explosive pressures needed to create the damage investigators found following the accident.
Ten ventilation seals and numerous ventilation stoppings were destroyed by the Jan. 2 explosion. MSHA is also conducting full- scale tests, subjecting alternative seals to explosive forces as part of its ongoing investigation into the Sago disaster.
The CFD model will be used to study the phenomenon of pressure build-up, or pressure piling, due to abrupt and gradual changes in entry heights and the structural strengths of the alternative seals in use at the Sago mine.
MSHA sought an interagency agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for this type of study after determining that the magnitude and complexity of the methane explosion required supercomputer resources, and specialized expertise and software.
U.S. Labor Department releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693- 7765 or TTY 202-693-7755. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Gas leak kills 18 miners in Shanxi (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-08-05 13:36TAIYUAN -- Eighteen miners were killed in a coal mine gas leak in Ningwu County, North China's Shanxi Province.
A collapse happened in the ground within the mining area of Dahuiyao Coal Min in Ningwu County around Friday noon, which opened a permanently closed area beneath the coal mine shaft and caused a fire, producing large amount of harmful gas, said sources from Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Work Safety.
Altogether 34 miners were working beneath the shaft when the accident happened. Three of them escaped the site of the accident.
Rescuers later lifted 14 more miners out of the shaft, of whom, one died in hospital. By 10 a.m., the rescuers found the remains of the 17 other miners trapped in the mishap.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
The U.S. Senate rejected Richard Stickler’s nomination to head the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration on Friday, sending it back to the White House.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., played a key role in questioning Stickler’s ability to head the agency responsible for enforcing federal safety laws in coal and metal-ore mines.
“America’s coal miners need to have faith that the top man in the federal mine safety agency has their protections as priority one,” Byrd said. “In large respect, the lives of our coal miners are in the hands of the leader of the mine safety agency.
“That person must have the confidence of the miners and the ability to win Senate confirmation. Without Senate confirmation, doubts will continue to linger about the administration’s commitment to the safety of our coal miners.”
The Senate also rejected the nomination of John Correll to head the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, which oversees enforcement of environmental laws at mines throughout the country. Under Bush, Correll had already worked for MSHA.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups opposed the nomination of Correll, who previously worked for Amax and Peabody Coal.
Both nominations were sent back to the White House shortly after midnight on Friday morning, before the Senate went out of session for vacation.
Sens. Byrd and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the leading Democratic member of the Senate’s Mine Safety Oversight Committee, led the effort to reject Stickler’s nomination.
Both senators hoped the Senate’s action on Friday will give the Bush administration an opportunity to nominate someone more focused on miner safety.
Kennedy said, “It’s unconscionable in the midst of the current mine safety crisis [that] the president would send us such an unsuitable choice for this key position.
“Mr. Stickler’s record demonstrates that throughout his career he has focused on profits and production, not worker safety. I urge the president to send the Senate a new nominee who will give America’s miners the protection they deserve.”
The Stickler and Correll nominations were returned to the White House under a Senate rule that holds whenever the Senate adjourns for more than 30 days, all pending nominations are rejected and returned to the president.
Typically, the rule is waived, keeping pending nominations open for consideration.
Byrd said, “We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to put an end to the safety crisis in our nation’s mines.... We need a strong leader at MSHA who will place miner safety above all other priorities at the agency.”
In response to fatal mining tragedies in West Virginia and other states earlier this year, Congress enacted new and stronger mine safety laws.
But those laws, Byrd argued, will mean little if the agency entrusted to enforce them places increased production above better safety.
When Congress reconvenes, the White House can nominate new individuals for these positions. It could also renominate both Stickler and Correll.
During the August recess, the Bush administration could also appoint Stickler and Correll to those posts, or name other individuals to fill them, until the end of the 2007 congressional session.
To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 304-348-5164.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Chinese city where the disease has killed 16 people has ordered the destruction of pets
CHINA has announced its second mass slaughter of dogs within days and could kill hundreds of thousands of pets to try to control an outbreak of rabies.
Officials said that 16 people had died of rabies after dog bites in the eastern city of Jining in the past eight months and all dogs living within three miles (5km) of areas where rabies had been found would be killed.
The Year of the Dog may be auspicious for weddings and babies, but the country’s canines are being less fortunate. Rabies has been reported in 16 villages within the municipal area of Jining, where more than 500,000 dogs live as pets or guard dogs. Dogs in other areas will be vaccinated.
The latest culls have triggered heated debate between dog lovers and those who say the safety of human beings must come first. Last week officials in southeastern Yunnan province clubbed, electrocuted or hanged more than 50,000 dogs in a cull denounced by animal rights activists.
One woman was walking her small white dog near her home in Mouding county in Yunnan when several men approached her. They persuaded her to hand them the lead and then beat her pet to death while she watched. Only military dogs guarding an ammunition storehouse and police dogs were spared the slaughter.
To hunt dogs being protected by their owners, the culling squads would go out into the streets of Mouding after darkness banging pots and pans and letting off fireworks to frighten the animals into barking. The men would then kill their quarry.
Officials ordered the cull because three people, including a four-year-old girl, have died of rabies in the province since April. This year 360 of the province’s 200,000 people have been bitten by dogs. A campaign to vaccinate the animals could not keep pace and officials decided on more decisive action.
Pet owners were offered 40 pence to slaughter their pets, then task force officers were sent to find those that had been spared. After the public outrage at the killings in Yunnan, officials in eastern Jining have ordered a media blackout on the cull, giving permission only to one local newspaper to send its reporters to write about the slaughter.
Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Centre, said the culling should stop: “This really damages our national image and sets a really bad example to show how lazy and inconsiderate those local government officials are.” Cases of rabies are on the rise in China, with more than 2,500 people reported to have died of the disease in 2004. Only 3 per cent of China’s dogs are vaccinated.
Pet ownership, shunned during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution as a bourgeois pastime, has become increasingly popular in the past few years.
Dogs are popular as companions among the elderly and as status symbols among a class of newly rich middle class. Beijing alone has 400,000 dogs.
— Forty farmers and ten policemen were injured during a riot by 2,000 villagers over corruption in Liaoning province, northeast China. The protesters were angry over officials keeping funds given by an iron mine for residents to build a road. In eastern China thousands are fasting over the arrest of more than 50 underground Christians after the demolition of a church in the Xiaoshan district. (AFP)
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Mine teams to test their mettle Bendigo Advertiser - Bendigo,Victoria,Australia
Saturday, 5 August 2006
MINE rescue teams from four states converge on Bendigo this weekend to test their lifesaving skills.
The city is playing host to the Victorian Mines Rescue Competition for the 14th year.
Bendigo's Oscar 1 quarry and mine emergency response team is competing with teams from Orange and Northparkes in New South Wales and three others from Victoria.
There are also teams from Tasmania and South Australia.
The contest aims to improve the standard of mine safety, competition administrator Wendy Cook said yesterday.
"I'd hate to be doing some of the activities that they're going to do this weekend."
The tests are physically and mentally strenuous and include a seven-part theory exam, she said.
The Beaconsfield mine disaster in Tasmania has raised the profile of rescue teams and Jamie Pope, manager of the Northparkes team, said all mines learnt from such incidents.
"Everything's very open and we share all of our knowledge; that's something we very proud of."
The Northparkes team had been coming to the Bendigo competition for eight years, Mr Pope said.
"It's great opportunity to enhance our skills and practice what we train for in a semi-realistic scenario."
Team members come from all types of jobs at the Rio Tinto mine.
"We've got an accountant, a safety officer, a geologist, a mechanic, and access controller a range of blue-collar and white-collar, so to speak."
Mine rescues often conjure up images of underground disasters, but the emergency response teams are equipped to tackle a wide range of incidents.
At an open-cut mine such as Northparkes, vehicle accidents were among the most common situations the team had to deal with, Mr Pope said.
And it's not just accidents at a mine site that the highly trained rescue team might be called to, Ms Cook said.
"If there's a major car crash nearby, it's often the mine rescue team that's called to assist."
The reigning champions are the team from Stawell gold mine, and Ms Cook said they'd be hoping to hold on to the title again this year.
The competition started this morning and continues until Sunday afternoon, with the winners announced at a presentation dinner in the evening.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
In this compelling tale, Punke recounts the grim details of the worst hard-rock mining disaster in United States history. On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out in the main shaft of a huge complex of copper mines 2,000 feet beneath Granite Mountain in Butte, Mont. The fire raged for three days, killing 164 of the 400 or so men at work that day. Punke, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and novelist (The Revenant), takes the reader deep underground and into the heart of the calamity. If the horrifying account of the fire and the trapped men is the heart of this yarn, its soul is Punke's historical contextualization of the event. He paints a vivid picture of a city, state and nation in the grip of industrial monopolies. In Butte, copper was king and Standard Oil, in the guise of Anaconda Mining, owned most of the copper (though not the Granite Mountain mine). In Punke's telling, Standard Oil spent lavishly to control the municipal and state governments; they aggressively fought the miners' union. Immediately after the tragic fire, the workers violently vented their fury on the hated Anaconda. Like the hardworking miners he writes about, Punke gets the job done, with sturdy prose. (Aug. 8)
35 feared dead as flash flood sweeps abandoned ECL mine United News of India August 5, 2006
At least 35 villagers of Guntigura, who were trapped in an abandoned ECL mine on Wednesday, are feared dead, official sources said on Saturday.
The accident occurred when a flash flood swept the mine under Neturia police station area some 250 km west of Kolkata.
Eastern Coalfields Limited's rescue party reached the spot on Thursday but failed to retrieve anyone from the pit.
CPI(M) MP Basudeb Acharia, who visited the area, said the relatives of the victims informed him that about 30 to 35 people were trapped in the mine when water gushed in. He said he would go to New Delhi to press for stoppage of illegal mining.
However, Purulia district's Superintendent of Police Asoke Kumar Prasad said he was not sure of the exact number of trapped persons.
The sources said the victims were extracting coal illegally from the abandoned mine.
According to the rescue party, water could not be pumped out as the mine wall had broken down and water from the river Damodar was pouring in.
The Neturia police station officer had rushed to the spot with reinforcements to conduct rescue operations but could not succeed in saving anyone.
Coal Minister Sibu Soren is expected to reach the spot later in the day.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
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