Published in the March 2007 American Longwall Magazine

This January marked the first anniversary of what will certainly go down in industry history as one of the most high-profile accidents of modern mining – the Sago explosion. It will be remembered not only for the circumstances surrounding it and the 12 workers lost that day, but also for the post-accident rouse in mining safety initiatives.

No one would disagree that, perhaps more than any other topic, communications has been the most prevalent topic – underground technology and the interaction between workers through American mines.

Unfortunately, according to one researcher, interest from potential producers has waned somewhat after an initial enthusiasm during 2006. “Many vendors have come out of the woodwork … and many have lost interest due to the realization of the limited market and the safety requirements, not to mention the financial requirements, to get equipment approved for underground coal mines.”

Another expert from the education field insists that part of the impetus for change, new directives, was ill-contrived. “I felt at the time, and still do, that the legislation passed at both the federal and state levels was a knee-jerk reaction based on politics and not engineering,” said Nancy Dorset. “My proof of this is that MSHA still hasn’t released a report on Sago.”

She adds that the information the industry has been given at this point, depending on the source, can be questionable and needs much more review. “Someone is going to have to prove to me that lightning two miles away made it underground,” she said.

“If so, then we are going to have to evacuate mines with sealed areas with unknown or explosive concentration of gases any time there is a lightning storm less than three (pick a number!) miles away – or better yet, actively inert sealed areas with nitrogen.”

However, the industry is clearly still in need of this technology, and those who call mining their life’s work say it is impossible to move forward without. “All communications need to be updated with new equipment and better equipment,” said miner KC Schmidt, adding radios and tracking with every inby/outby foreman and tracking with every miner.

Mining need not depend on brand new research and development, said one expert – the answer could literally be right in front of our eyes. “While many new technologies have been tested, few have incorporated proven lessons from the past. The US Bureau of Mines created many devices which could solve many of the problems with today’s mine communications.”

He said a limited market, current state of the industry and other issues likely led to the demise of many products that may have just been ahead of their time. “Taking the work from the past and improving it with modern technology could save lives,” he said. Two-way through-the-earth communications exceeding 1000 feet and medium frequency products with the ability to work over one mile without special repeaters and cable are just a sample of those items, he said.

Dorset said there is a training lesson to be learned from last year’s tragedies – it is crucial that methods and content be examined and that miners, especially given an influx of new workers, are adequately trained. “I know of no instance in the last 40 years where barricading saved a life. So why do we still teach it?”

She added that much more review needs to be done in terms of evacuation training. It is not enough to show maps or provide notes and hope that the information on paper sinks in; additionally, the psychological state of mind miners have in emergencies must also be a factor covered in training.

“No one has answered the most important question: why did these 12 men not exit the mine – they were only a few hundred feet from fresh air. Where have we gone wrong in teaching miners to evacuate? Can more evacuation drills help?”

Resonance of the accidents last year and comparisons to other occurrences – those with both positive and negative results – will remain under discussion for some time. Some of those experts feel that talking should continue, and lead to sharing between regions and between countries on how to technologically and psychologically better things.

While Sago and Aracoma and its ramifications are still very fresh in the minds and hearts of the US coal industry, some industry observers have likened the experience to that of Australia in the 1990’s. “Basically, they went through what Australia, particularly Queensland, did after the Moura disaster of 1994 [when 11 miners were killed in an explosion] and the subsequent inquiry in 1996. As in the USA, the Australian industry identified a number of key areas that needed to be addressed to improve safety,” Mine Site Technologies mining engineer Denis Kent told .

However, he said the methods to achieve safety improvements are somewhat different from a safety philosophy point of view between the two countries.

“In Australia, the efforts have resulted in guiding principle of ‘duty of care’ to employees and using risk assessments in all facets of mining. Conversely, the US industry is still very prescriptive and operates to written laws. This places the US mine operators in a difficult position in that any investment in communication technologies needs to be checked against meeting the ‘letter of the law’, rather than the Australian approach of assessing a technology ‘that best controls the risk at their mine’”.

For example, MST’s PED system is used by more than 90% of the miners going underground in Australia as a result of choice, and not meeting a specific law stating it must be installed.

Kent said he spent a lot of time in the US last year explaining that by being proactive and exceeding regulatory expectations, the Australian industry had maintained some flexibility in their choices of technologies.

“Whereas the US was being tied down to prescriptive laws, and will likely remain that way unless a more proactive approach is taken. We are now seeing that some of the US operators are doing just this, as they are starting to identify what risks they need to control, and assessing what technologies they need to assist in controlling those risks now, and not wait for some silver bullet that will do everything.”

Dorset concurred that change must lie in the hands of each and every person in the industry, as those whose livelihood depend on mining coal are the biggest catalysts for progression. “Back when I was a new miner, and for several years after that, I thought MSHA and the state enforcement agencies could do no wrong. However, this MINER Act and state look-alikes are pretty useless when it comes to improving safety in the mines.

“My message to all miners: Get out fast. Barricading is only going to kill you. Eleven Sago miners proved that.”

Schmidt said ...click here to read on.