Published in the December 2007 American Longwall Magazine

For more than 35 years, the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety’s Mine Safety and Training Program has worked together with the Colorado School of Mines and the Western Mining Resource Center to provide realistic, challenging mine rescue training at the Edgar Mine Training Center in Idaho Springs, Colorado.

At the facility MSTP state mine rescue coordinator Harry Lovely trains coal and metal and non-metal-oriented individuals as well as the western team for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Colorado MSTP, the state’s MSHA’s state grantee, has four trainers that provide mine safety and health education and training assistance to the mining community. It also designs, and produces and distributes, national award-winning mine safety training DVDs, CDs and videos across the nation.

The program trains more than 7000 miners a year, including new miners, and provides annual refresher, special topic and safety audit training on request.

“Our training is conducted almost exclusively onsite and is site specific, so that we have a relationship with virtually every mining company and mining operation in the state of Colorado,” MSTP manager Bill York-Feirn said.

Over 400 mine rescue personnel a year experience the unique, realistic mine emergency scenario training at the Edgar facility. That number is expected to grow significantly as the increased mine rescue team and equipment requirements of the MINER Act of 2006 are implemented nationwide.

The growing awareness of the importance of mine emergency training is evident in the increasing requests to the MSTP for realistic training and through a one-time increase in funding from the MSHA.

The MSTP will use some of the funds to support additional equipment and support for training at both the Edgar facility and at underground mine sites in Colorado. In addition a $53,000 Brookwood-Sago grant will be used to create important mine emergency training materials for mine rescue team members and mine workers.

Realistic mine rescue scenarios at the Edgar mine include conditions such as heavy smoke; building and tearing down ventilation controls; finding, treating and bringing “victims” to a fresh air base; real-time communications with the incident command center and the fresh air base; an underground maze; noxious gases; bad ground conditions; rope rescue, and many others.

The key to effective training, York-Feirn said, is knowing the team’s level of experience and providing scenarios to improve the decision-making skills of the team and its members.

“Conditions at the mine can always change, as in a real mine emergency, and team members are exposed to evolving conditions as the mine exploration continues.

“Our trainer introduces many new ideas for teams to try and evaluate that they often adopt as important skills.”

In the past two years, the Edgar mine has conducted many multiple team trainings in which four or five teams take turns to explore the mine while donning emergency apparatus and then brief the next team before they enter the mine.

Mine management has begun to participate in the Incident Command Center where they use and evaluate their company Emergency Response Plan as if in a real emergency.

“The managers can test out their plan and make changes as they see what works and what doesn’t,” he said. “They also can learn to deal with the many command center issues such as the media, logistical support of the teams, upset families and many more.”

Harry Lovely added: “The mine rescue team members and management often tell us that this is the best type of mine emergency training they have ever had. Many teams are scheduling six to eight months out to make sure they get some time at Edgar.”

While the Edgar Mine Training Center is the premier mine emergency training facility in the west, its officials said much of the infrastructure from this 1940s facility needs upgrading. The MSTP is working closely with CSM and the mining industry to upgrade the electrical, ventilation and water systems at the facility.

“The western mining industry faces many challenges in the next few years,” York-Feirn said. “The large turnover of mine workers has created a desperate shortage of committed, conscientious mine employees.

“At the same time, large numbers of inexperienced mine workers must be trained on everything from task training to do their jobs to new miner, annual refresher, mine emergency and other federally required safety and health training,” he said.

York-Feirn added that new requirements of the MINER Act and perhaps the S-MINER Act, and others, will challenge operators to know the requirements and ensure all employees are properly trained on them.

“To reach the goal of zero fatalities and zero injuries, mining operations will need to practice safe production no matter what the market outlook happens to be.”

The MSTP has received 11 national and state awards in the past 12 years for safety leadership and developing and distributing new, innovative mine health and safety training materials nationwide.

“I am extremely proud of our Mine Safety and Training Program and the positive national impact we have had on miner health and safety through our safety leadership, innovative training materials, excellent site-specific training and sharing of our expertise and knowledge on the national scene,” York-Feirn said.

“We strive to continually listen to the mine health and safety needs of the mining industry and to try and meet them.”