Since 2002, the United States coal mining industry has had to deal with a number of disaster situations, in which many miners have lost their lives. Unfortunately, many of the lessons learned by those involved in the events have not been recorded and shared with others, leaving the same mistakes to be repeated.

When Quecreek miners accidentally dug into the abandoned, poorly documented Saxman mine on July 24, 2002, an estimated 60 million gallons of water flooded Quecreek and trapped nine miners 240 feet underground.

At the time, Hess was serving as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and headed up its involvement with the rescue efforts.

In his presentation Dealing with the Media and Family Members of Trapped Miners During a Mine Emergency, Hess offers some important tips on how to deal with future similar situations.

“The families and the media are both very important elements of the rescue … you can’t just be technically competent and worry about things like air packs and other equipment in a rescue, you have to look at the whole picture,” Hess said.

In an age when news can literally be disseminated around the world just moments after an event occurring, the power of the media cannot be underestimated, especially in a disaster situation that calls for certain facts to be withheld for the sake of families involved.

“One of the hardest things that I had to do as secretary of the DEP was to face the families and not only give them good information but also confidence that we were doing everything that we could to rescue their loved ones,” Hess said.

Driving to the rescue site just hours after the accident happened, Hess said phone calls and messages from the major media organisations were steadily flowing in, with the Associated Press already having reported brief details.

The whole operation surrounding the rescue of the trapped miners involved four different points of contact – the mine portal, the rescue site where workers drilled the rescue shaft and eventually lowered down a cage, a media centre in an abandoned supermarket, and a fire hall which housed the families of the nine trapped miners.

Hess said the four locations were within a close radius of each other and were kept under constant police guard, to ensure the hoards of media that had gathered did not interfere with the rescue operation, or the miners’ families.

One of the most fiercely guarded policies adopted during the rescue operation (which lasted four days, until the last miner was pulled up on July 28) was the “family first” policy, which meant the miners’ families were the first to be informed of any developments in the rescue efforts, and were updated numerous times throughout the day.

There was a lot of heavy equipment around the rescue site in particular, with big pumps, pipes and drill rigs at various points drilling holes down to relieve the water pressure.

Although the site was dangerous, it was deemed necessary to bring representatives of the families to the rescue site on a rotating basis to view the rescue operations and see firsthand what was going on.

Hess said it was this policy of involving the families which made them part of the mine rescue operation, not simply an afterthought.

During the rescue, there were generally four press conferences held throughout the day.

“It was clear that facilities had to be provided for the press so that a balance could be provided with regard for the need for the public to know, and the need for the families to get firsthand information as to what is happening with their loved ones,” Hess said.

“It was also provided to ensure that the media did not interfere with ongoing operations, as there was a lot of heavy equipment in use, as well as people handling it.”

Rows and rows of satellite trucks were lined up near the site, with news helicopters landing across the street from the media location and non-stop activity 24 hours a day.

Because many of the news teams and reporters were not familiar with the room and pillar mine and how it worked, a webpage was formed and basic background information on the mine, the accident and the response was updated regularly.

DEP staff also monitored cable and news stations to see what stories were being published about the incident, and any inaccuracies were addressed.

Hess said the biggest challenge was making sure enough new information, photographs and video was being supplied to the media to try and prevent inaccurate or speculative reporting.

“The transparency of operations was critical in dealing with the media and if mistakes were made, the media was told and those mistakes were corrected, instead of letting that information fester with the wrong information out there.”

After the rescue some of the main players involved made presentations explaining to people how the rescue was accomplished and how the communication took place with the media and the mine families, as well as what worked and what didn’t work.

“It was entirely a team effort with lots of experienced people. Planning and training were also two other keys to this, and having regular exercises of emergency operations and how you train for this kind of event is very, very critical,” Hess said.

“This is not just about pumps or rescue apparatus … The rescue was a life changing experience for everyone who was involved and unfortunately this does not happen very often. But we never forgot who was really in charge,” Hess said.

“This was truly a miracle.”