International Coal Group spokesperson Ira Gamm told Associated Press one SCSR carried by one of the miners may have been four or five months beyond the manufacturer's recommended 10-year service life. She said the rest of the air packs had not reached their expiration dates.
Sole Sago survivor Randal McCloy Jr said in a letter earlier this year that four of the 12 SCSRs deployed after the January 2 explosion were faulty. Additionally, testimony was presented at public hearings in West Virginia on the incident that even the successfully executed rescue packs were not completely used, ranging from 28% to 79% of remaining air supply.
However, subsequent investigations by the Mine Safety and Health Administration into the disaster show the SCSRs were in working order.
Gamm blamed the expired SCSR on a “typographical error on the master list maintained at the Sago Mine office", Associated Press reported.
The Sago mine disaster occurred when an underground explosion at approximately 6.30am local time Monday, January 2, resulted in the deaths of 12 miners and the serious injury of one.
The deceased miners and single survivor were located and pulled from the mine during the early morning hours of January 4.
Following the accident many safety issues have been raised, including the use and maintenance of SCSRs.
Regulations ensuring every underground miner can efficiently and correctly don and operate his or her own SCSR device – formerly an annual assessment – will be amended to quarterly assessments nationwide.
The recently released Mine Safety Recommendations report by the West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force made a number of recommendations for emergency air packs.
First, it concluded that "at least one cache" should be placed no more than 500 feet from the face of every active section underground, and each cache must hold two breathing units with a capacity of 60 minutes or more for each miner working in that section.
Knowing that the number of workers at a face can change from day to day, the group recommended that the total stored be "based on the total number of miners reasonably likely to be in that area".
From the point of that cache all the way to the surface via the section's escape route, the task force has recommended additional caches be placed no more than 30 minutes travel time apart, based on an escaping miner walking at a "normal pace", and the caches be marked with reflective signage.
Training on SCSR use was also mentioned in the report, recommending operations conduct detailed demonstrations and describe all parts of the pack and its operation.
In the wake of Sago, a number of suppliers have also introduced SCSRs onto the market with new features, including increased capacity.
