Teams practice mine rescues - Smoke, safety lines mimic conditions found underground

Writer: Erin Schmitt

Madisonville Messenger

Inspectors with the Mine Safety and Health Administration trained for coal mine evacuations Wednesday morning by navigating through a simulated one here.

MSHA, which regulates mines on a federal level, is responsible for the safety of inspectors and miners.

Most of the men who went through the exercise Wednesday are part of mine rescue. They may be called upon for help at any time for mine disasters across the nation, according to MSHA District 10 Health Supervisor Robert Gray.

Going through the theatrical smoke-filled simulated mine while using self-contained self-rescuers to help them breathe is part of their hands-on training, according to Gray. The simulated mine is located behind Madisonville Community College's Technical Campus.

Rick Caskey of the Kentucky Coal Academy at Madisonville Community College showed five-member teams a map of the mine and explained the situation before they entered.

"There's a fire in the mine, we don't know exactly where it is, but we need to evacuate," Caskey said. "We're not positive, but we know there's smoke somewhere down the supply road and we think it's damaged our intake practice lines."

The inspectors were warned of dangers such as the roof caving in or the lifeline snapping.

Training with realistic situations in the simulator gives MSHA experience in handling real-life scenarios.

"These are actual things that might happen in a mine and it's up to these guys to make sure these lifelines are maintained," Gray said.

After the men discussed the best way to exit, they kneeled down and put on their self-rescuers, which can supply oxygen for up to two hours. Each miner has to have access to two rescuers, Gray said. Inspectors also donned goggles, turned on the light attached to their hard hats and pinched their noses with clips to prevent breathing in smoke.

Caskey reminded the men how important it is to put on the self-contained self-rescuers at the first sign of danger.

"Don't wait until you encounter smoke," he said. "You can have enough carbon monoxide to kill you dead before you encounter smoke."

Once inside the simulator, the smoke was so thick it was hard for team members to see one another, even though they were tethered to the same line. The law requires them to be tethered as a safety measure, Gray said.

"If one guy's hand does slip off of it, you've got these other guys here that are tethered to him so they can bring him back on line and get him again," he said.

Each team held onto its lifeline and felt the way safely to the exit. At some points along the way there were cones that team members could feel to tell if they were headed in the right direction. Navigating through the nearly 300-yard simulator took three to five minutes.

After everyone completed the simulation, they met to discuss improving communications in the mines while wearing the self-rescuers. The men can't talk with them in their mouths or they might breathe in carbon monoxide, so they decided learning signals would be a way to get around verbal communication.

MSHA is passionate about mine safety, according to Gray, and it works year round to that end. The local western Kentucky MSHA district has gone 1,339 days without a lost time accident, he said.

"We don't just sit idly back, just out there writing citations," Gray said. "The reason we were formed was to protect the health and safety of the miner period."