Published in March 2006 Australian Longwall Magazine

As part of its commitment to crisis preparedness, Peabody and North Goonyella conducted the exercise on Thursday December 15, 2005 in an effort to confirm processes were in place to respond effectively to emergency situations. The North Goonyella longwall is located 40km north of Moranbah.

Coordinated by national advisory group Rowland, the exercise comprehensively tested Peabody’s corporate office and North Goonyella’s preparedness for an underground emergency.

Rowland exercise coordinator Jim Boubouras said the exercise demonstrated the commitment of Peabody and the mine to emergency response and crisis management, as the exercise was a significant investment in time and resources. Peabody had to shut down its entire operation onsite and at the corporate office for the five-hour activity.

“It was a complex exercise, but extremely valuable for the company to test its emergency response and crisis management procedures. Peabody and North Goonyella should be commended for putting themselves under the microscope. Opening up your organisation to rigorous testing and evaluation is not easy or pleasant, but it is absolutely necessary if you are serious about your crisis management capability,” Boubouras said.

The crisis, which commenced onsite at the mine at 9.30am with a simulated underground explosion and fire, was the culmination of five months of planning and training. It was the first opportunity for Peabody and North Goonyella to practise using its updated crisis management framework – based on the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System (AIIMS).

The exercise involved the entire onsite North Goonyella workforce, the Peabody corporate office in Brisbane, Queensland Mines Rescue Service, the Queensland Police Service, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines Inspectorate, Simtars, Centacare and actors from local theatre groups in Mackay and Brisbane. Even Moranbah’s Catholic Church played a part during the comprehensive multiple-level exercise.

North Goonyella’s emergency response team was put to the test in containing and controlling the situation, while the site and corporate crisis management teams were faced with a series of technical, commercial and stakeholder challenges.

The underground scenario for the exercise involved a continuous miner being “flitted” into the mine with a power tram, a 130 Eimco and five-man crew in support. The power tram overheated and broke down under the longwall conveyor belt in the mine’s main headings.

As part of the repair process, the diesel power tram was refuelled, but diesel accidentally spilled, igniting a fire on the power tram motor’s extremely hot surface. The fire spread quickly, engulfing the power tram and other diesel vehicles in the main travel road outbye of both the longwall and development panels.

This scenario created three major issues to be dealt with underground: the safe escape and accountability of all personnel underground; the triage, treatment and extraction of three injured workers, which included injuries of burns, fractured limbs, shock and cardiac arrest; and controlling the major fire hazard.

The initial alarm was raised within five minutes of the fire starting. Due to the proximity of underground personnel on the day, the initial response to the incident was quick and effective with adequate numbers of personnel on scene to assist with casualties and start preparing firefighting operations.

Boubouras said the initial on scene management of the emergency by underground mine workers and deputies was of a high standard. The treatment of patients and control of firefighting activities was led by trained Mines Rescue personnel within the crews on scene.

The patients were treated and triaged appropriately and were extracted from underground within 30 minutes.

During the escape phase of the exercise, crews were only able to use vehicles for a short distance. They were stopped at designated locations inbye the fire and forced out of their vehicles, due to extremely dense smoke, to take alternate routes on foot.

Exercise control staff reported that, in general, the evacuation was controlled and orderly, but some confusion was encountered while on foot when smoke goggles were introduced. Crew leaders regained their groups’ composure and all crews inbye the fire were successfully evacuated.

North Goonyella’s senior site executive Tim Jackson said that North Goonyella’s first priority was to protect its people.

“Exercises like this one help ensure that our people and systems are capable of reacting effectively in a crisis situation. An effective response requires quick thinking and good decision making by a unified team,” Jackson said.

“The key to this is being prepared – having comprehensive plans in place and testing those plans to protect your people, assets and reputation.

“This exercise was a great opportunity to consolidate earlier training conducted by Peabody and North Goonyella and it gave everyone an opportunity to better understand how things work during a crisis situation.

“This is not to say that the response and recovery actions went off without a hitch. There were many mistakes made, and some procedures did not work as well as they should have. This type of activity, however, exposes our people to the stresses of worst case scenarios and is a key method for us to validate our systems and improve our performance as a result.

“This exercise was a very intense but rewarding experience for all involved,” Jackson said.

Exercise control staff from North Goonyella, Rowland, Simtars, DNR&M and QMRS coordinated multiple role-players: injured underground miners; distraught family members onsite and at the corporate office; media camera crews and reporters; and representatives from numerous other government, commercial, legal and financial organisations.

Boubouras said...click here to read on.