According to a report from National Research Council,
despite advances in research, practices and rescue strategies to improve safety
and health for underground coal miners, more coordinated planning and training
are needed to better prepare workers to escape in the event of a mine
emergency. The committee that wrote the report says for self-escape, miners
need working knowledge of their surroundings, appropriate equipment and technology.
Successful self-escape is not a solo effort, the committee says, and begins
well before an emergency occurs with coordinated planning, training, technology
use and research strategies across mine operations.
The committee identifies several areas that would help
improve self-escape capacity: technology, decision making, safety culture
training and existing escapeway drills. It also recommends actions by operators
and federal agencies to promote miners’ abilities to escape an emergency.
A prepublication copy of the report, “Improving Self-Escape
from Underground Coal Mines,” is available from National Academies Press as
a free PDF download.
A Blog From the American Society of Safety Engineers