The BHP Billiton mines Appin, West Cliff and Elouera as well as the Metropolitan and Tahmoor operations, bought the US-manufactured units through local agent Austdac. Appin implemented the system recently and West Cliff should have the CSE’s introduced by early next year, according to Dave Moore from West Cliff, with Elouera up and running by March.
“There has generally been good support from the workforce for the introduction of the new self rescuers as it is recognised as a world-class system,” Moore said.
Some 4,500 units have been delivered to 17 underground coal mines said Austdac’s Geoff Watkinson. Unlike the older filter self rescuers, the CSEs are self contained and can operate in any environment. Bi-directional breathing eliminates potential for leaky check valves and the start up is achieved with compressed oxygen, not a candle. The SR-100A has a rated duration of 50 minutes and weighs 2.5kg.
The system incorporates an Austdac-developed maintenance system which is in compliance with the NSW and Queensland government code “MDG 3006 MRT 7 APRIL 2001: Code for Maintaining and Testing the Performance of Escape Breathing Apparatus in Underground Mines.”
Austdace has developed a maintenance method called AusTran which uses a hand-held scanner to check the maintenance of the self rescuers in compliance with the code. Each self rescuer is factory fitted with a passive transponder which allows each to be scanned for inspection. Records that are stored include inspection history and reports, fault history, monthly management reports, and last inspection and test date. Records are stored in the scanner and are downloaded into a database program, making this a paperless system.
The most recent innovation, introduced by Austdac last month, is a reusable training unit, the SR-T. A significant advantage is that the unit emulates the conditions of wearing self-contained self-rescuers within a 10-15 minute training timeframe. The wearer can experience what it feels like to wear an actual self-rescuer, without the requirement of destroying the unit in training. This allows underground workers to understand first-hand the feelings of elevated temperature, increased breathing resistance, elevated CO2 and oxygen while wearing the training unit.
