North Goonyella Mine Fire. 2017 Paper Underground coal mine gas monitoring emergency preparation Larry Ryan Simtars, Martin Watkinson Simtars. Conclusion “1. Locate the portal and ventilation fans some distance from the mine’s other surface infrastructure, so in the event of a major incident, the mine can avoid isolating surface equipment or evacuate mine workers.”
Watkinson Underground coal mine gas monitoring emergency preparation 2017
How many times does this have to get stated?
Even after North Goonyella and then Grosvenor still not one word from the Mines Inspectors.
In my view willfully negligent
CONCLUSION
High potential incidents in underground coal mine are an ever present risk in the industry. However,
the mine can be better prepared to take control of the situation earlier by having some of elements of
the mine designed with consideration of emergency situations, having some emergency equipment
onsite and training as below –
1. Locate the portal and ventilation fans some distance from the mine’s other surface infrastructure,
so in the event of a major incident, the mine can avoid isolating surface equipment or evacuate
mine workers.
2. Ensure that bore holes are drilled at various strategic locations ready for emergency gas
monitoring.
3. Have the equipment and expertise on site to sample the emergency bore holes.
4. Ensure that the response the emergency incident doesn’t expose workers to unforeseen
hazards.
5. Ensuring the gas monitoring not only meets the requirements of “peace time” mining but also
monitors other strategic locations from an emergency event perspective.
6. Install critical infrastructure with a view to protect it from blast damage i.e. hardened gas
monitoring systems, phones, DACs, etc. monitoring system and phones may be possible.
The speed of response is critical to bringing the emergency situation under control and the deployment of mines rescue to find trapped mine workers. As mines rescue cannot be deployed until it can be assessed as safe to go underground, the ability to collect gas samples, quickly share the information and update risk assessments all help to reduce this delay.
