Published in American Longwall Magazine

It is commonsense to state where an emergency has occurred yet in high pressure emergency situations and without proper training, commonsense can - and does -disappear.

Research conducted by NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) showed when an emergency occurred workers often did not receive the information needed to take appropriate action.

As part of the research interviews were conducted with 48 miners who had escaped one of three different underground mine fires. The results revealed warning information provided to the miners was inadequate. Either insufficient information was provided to them inbye the fire areas or they failed to ask the questions needed to let them plan and execute an effective escape.

To address the communication breakdown NIOSH, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, developed the Emergency Communication Triangle, a training intervention which can be used by senders and receivers of warnings during a mine emergency. The material was developed for use in short safety training sessions such as start-of-shift safety talks.

NIOSH developed six categories of critical information which should be provided during emergency communications.

When reporting an emergency or receiving a warning a miner should identify themselves – people react differently depending on who gives the information. When people receive a warning from an unidentified person they are likely to try and gather more information before acting and thus, critical time can be lost. However if it is from a credible source, for example a miner with 10 years mine rescue experience, the communications person is likely to react quickly.

Giving or finding out the location of the problem is also important. Of the 48 miners interviewed only two knew where the fire was located yet this information was known by either the dispatcher or the person who discovered the fire. The miners then had to make decisions about escape routes without knowing the location of the problem.

NIOSH said miners must tell or ask exactly what is happening. At one mine fire, miners near the phone heard the message to evacuate and went to gather their crew. One worker shouted to a machine operator: "Come on down to the mantrip. We're going out." Because it was close to quitting time, the machine operator thought they were just leaving the section a little early and went through the normal end-of-shift routine, wasting valuable time.

Once the initial alarm has been raised, miners can then give or obtain details about the situation while the response is in progress. Steps to take include firstly assessing whether anyone is hurt and if everyone is accounted for. Next, assess the event – will the situation require a first aid kit or ambulance, a mine rescue team or a fire extinguisher? Lastly, assess the response - what has been done and how many people and what equipment is on the scene?

NIOSH has already experienced significant success with the procedure. Following its development in 1999, the safety talk was field tested with a group of 236 miners at an underground mine. Before the safety talk was given, workers were asked to list three pieces of information that should be included in an emergency warning message – only 13% completed the list correctly.

Researchers returned 90 days after the safety talk to conduct a post-test evaluation. Workers were again asked to list three pieces of information to include in a warning message – the results showed 43% could accurately list the three components.