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Underground Mine Disaster Survival and Rescue: An Evaluation of Research Accomplishments and Needs Report of the Committee on Underground Mine Disaster Survival and Rescue Commission on Sociotechnical Systems National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1981 CM I 0 138? LIBRARY
Oj NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the Councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. The Commission on Sociotechnical Systems is one of the major components of the National Research Council and has general responsibility for and cognizance over those program areas concerned with physical, technological, and industrial systems that are or may be deployed in the public or private sector to serve societal needs. This study by the Commission on Sociotechnical Systems was conducted under Contract No. J0100Q14 with the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior. Printed in the United States of America
COMMITTEE ON UNDERGROUND MINE DISASTER SURVIVAL AND RESCUE R. V. RAMANI, Chairman, Professor of Mining Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania M. DAYNE ALDRIDGE, Director, Energy Research Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia PATRICK R. HARVEY, Health and Safety Coordinator, Western Operations, Climax Molybdenum Company, Golden, Colorado KENNETH F. KIMBALL, Physician, Medical Arts Surgical Group, Kearney, Nebraska J. P. MOONEY, Safety and Health Coordinator, United Steelworkers of America (retired), Canon City, Colorado LOUIS J. PIGNATARO, Professor of Transportation Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of New York, Brooklyn, New York WOODS G. TALMAN, Mining Consultant, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chief Inspector, Health and Safety, Coal Operations, U.S. Steel Corporation (retired) GEORGE L. WILHELM, Manager, United States Operations, Exxon Minerals Company, New York, New York Liaison Representative H. KENNETH SACKS, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Staff Officer ABRAM B. BERNSTEIN, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. iii
PREFACE Post-disaster survival and rescue research is a small component of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) health and safety research program. During the period 1970-1979, post-disaster research received approxi- mately 5.5 percent of the total USBM health and safety research funds. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the USBM post- disaster research program and to recommend future efforts in this area. In conducting the study, the Committee on Underground Mine Disaster Survival and Rescue received extensive data from the Bureau of Mines on its program. The committee also obtained input from other federal agencies, state officials, mine operators, equipment manufacturers, and miners' representatives, and visited two operating mines, a training center, the USBM research center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) Mine Emergency Opera- tions (MEO) facility in Hopewell, Pennsylvania. The committee reviewed reports of all the mine disasters, as well as a number of accidents, that occurred in the United States during the period 1970-1979. The committee also reviewed the laws, regulations, and procedures bearing on disasters, disaster response, and post-disaster audits. An impor- tant source document for the committee was the report "Mine Rescue and Survival," prepared by the National Academy of Engineering in 1970. The committee has developed a definition of a disaster survival and rescue system that provides a frame of reference for the evaluation of research accomplishments and the assessment of future needs (Chapter 1). On the basis of its review of the past decade's disasters (Chapter 2) and research accomplishments (Chapter 3), the committee has briefly outlined the essential components of an R&D program in the post- disaster area (Chapter 3). The committee has then looked to the future and addressed two topics that the mining community must consider if it is to develop a more effective capability for post-disaster survival and rescue. These are: the need for a systems approach to preparing for disaster response (Chapter 4), and the special considerations that apply to government-sponsored research and development leading to the design of escape, survival, and rescue equipment (Chapter 5). The disaster survival and rescue system identified in this report encompasses research institutions, government at all levels, mine management, unions, and miners, all within the framework of a total systems approach. Without such an approach, the total system may not
perform as well as possible with respect to the objectives of post- disaster survival and rescue. The report has therefore touched on areas that are not exclusively research and that are not entirely under the control of the Bureau of Mines. The call for an evaluation of MSHA's post-disaster audit process and mine emergency operations is a case in point. The recom- mendations concerning assessments of the standards set for oxygen self- rescuers and of the rulemaking process is another. Examination of these areas may be useful to legislative and administrative bodies that must determine whether there are better methods for achieving the desired objectives and whether funding levels are adequate. The approaches to training called for in this report can be pursued by the mining industry, independent of government. For the individual miner, the role he or she can play in discovering hazards, in ensuring the safety of fellow workers, and in escape and evacuation are emphasized. The record of the mineral industry over the years reveals continuous endeavors by management, miners, and federal and state governments to eliminate the dangers involved in the extraction of minerals from underground. The significance of the progress that has been made to ensure a safer and more productive work environment should neither be overlooked nor minimized. Yet it is clear from the con- tinued occurrence of disasters and accidents that attainment of the objective of a totally safe mine remains elusive. Pursuit of this objective is continuing. This study, directed toward evaluating the Bureau's survival and rescue research during the past decade, is a part of that endeavor. The bulk of the recommendations in this report concern research and are directed to the U.S. Bureau of Mines. However, mine manage- ment, unions, miners, enforcement agencies, legislative bodies, and research organizations have important roles to play in ensuring that research efforts are effectively directed toward productive ends. In that sense, the report findings should be of interest to everyone in the mining community in the United States and abroad. R. V. Ramani Chairman vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The committee was materially aided in this study by a number of individuals and organizations. We wish to thank H. Kenneth Sacks, our liaison representative from the Bureau of Mines, who provided us with a stream of information about the Bureau's post-disaster research program, and George R. Rodericks, retired director of the Office of Emergency Services, District of Columbia Government, who resigned from the committee because of the press of other responsibilities, but only after he had exposed us to the thinking of public officials concerned with large-scale disasters. We wish to thank the United States Steel Corporation for its hos- pitality in inviting us to the facilities of the Blaker Shaft Regional Training Center and the Robena Mine, and particularly L. Barone, J. Blanc, Stanley Boskovich, Rudy Boyle, Marvin Gates, Robert Hoover, Dennis Maher, Carl Moore, Blair McGill, Dean Wehr, and John Young, who were our hosts and guides on that occasion. We wish to thank the Magma Copper Company for welcoming us to the San Manuel Mine, and particularly Seipe Haro, Bill Wood, and Mike Zappia, who served as our hosts and guides. We wish to thank the Bureau of Mines and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for the wealth of information they provided and for the tours of the Bureau's Pittsburgh Research Center and of MSHA's Mine Emergency Operations facility. We also wish to thank the American Mining Congress, the Bituminous Coal Operators Association, the Mine Inspectors Institute of America, the Mine Safety Appliances Company, the National Coal Association, the National Crushed Stone Association, the National Independent Coal Operators Association, the National Mine Rescue Association, the National Mine Service Company, the Pennsylvania Office of Deep Mine Safety, the United Mine Workers of America, and the United Steelworkers of America for the information they provided. We particularly wish to thank Don Allan, Robert E. Barrett, Roy Bernard, George Bockosh, Levi Brake, Arthur Brown, Martin Connors, Joseph O. Cook, John W. Crawford, Frank DeLimba, Kenneth Dupree, Joseph M. Ellis, James G. Girod, John Greenhalgh, Donald Huntley, Gerald Kindrick, Brad H. B. Johnson, Ken Johnston, Jeffery Kravitz, Robert B. Lagather, Dan Larkin, Robert L. Marovelli, Charles Marshall, William D. Menzie, William Moser, Sidney O. Newman, Jr., Edward J. Onuscheck, C. William Parisi, Larry Peters, Herschel Potter, Donald E. Ralston, Robert E. Riley, Harry Schell, Donald Schlick, Thomas J. Shepich, Steve Smith, J. P. Strange, Jack Strong, Pramod C. Thakur, K. Thirumalai, Michael Trainor, Harry Tuggle, Walter Vicinelly, James Vilsek, Robert L. Vines, Monroe West, Joseph J. Yancik, and Albert Zara for meeting with the committee and its staff and contributing to our understanding of the problems of mine rescue and survival. vii
OVERVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS Page MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS ...................... 3 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................ 7 1.1 Background .......................... 7 1.2 Scope of This Study ...................... 9 1.3 Hazards, Accidents, and Disasters ............... 9 1.4 A Mine Disaster Survival and Rescue System .......... 12 1.5 The Underground Mining Industry ................ 14 1.6 The Role of Government .................... 15 1.6.1 The Federal Role .................... 17 1.6.2 The Mine Safety and Health Administration: Regulations, Enforcement, Training, and Emergency Operations .................. 21 1.6.3 The Bureau of Mines: Mine Health and Safety Research. . 23 1.6.4 NIOSH and State Agencies ................ 27 CHAPTER 2. UNDERGROUND MINE DISASTERS OF THE PAST DECADE ........ 29 2.1 Disaster Investigation Reports ................ 31 2.2 Coal Mine Disasters ...................... 31 2.3 Metal and Non-Metal Mine Disasters .............. 34 2.4 Recommendations ........................ 40 CHAPTER 3. THE BUREAU OF MINES POST-DISASTER RESEARCH PROGRAM ..... 43 3.1 Introduction ......................... 43 3.2 Communications ........................ 44 3.2.1 Electromagnetic Communications ............. 45 3.2.2 Seismic Communications ................. 48 3.2.3 Borehole Probes ........ ............ 49 3.3 Life Support Systems ..................... 49 3.3.1 Escape Breathing Apparatus ............... 50 3.3.2 Rescue Breathing Apparatus ............... 53 3.3.3 Physiological and Metabolic Research .......... 53 3.3.4 Refuge Chambers .................... 55 3.3.5 Oxygen Sources for Breathing Apparatus and Refuge Chambers ........................ 57 3.4 Rescue Operations ...................... 57 3.4.1 Rescue Drilling Technology ............... 57 3.4.2 Mine Survey and Rescue Vehicle ............. 58 3.4.3 Rescue Team Helmet and Cooling Garment ......... 59 3.5 Related Research ....................... 60 3.6 Survival and Rescue Planning and Management .......... 60 3.7 Project Selection ...................... 62 3.8 Technology Transfer ..................... 64 3.9 Evaluation of the Total Program ............... 65 3.10 Recommendations ....................... 69 ix
CHAPTER 4. CONTINGENCY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT 73 4.1 Disaster Plans 73 4.2 The System Safety Approach 75 4.3 Emergency Medical Services 77 4.4 Emergency Communications 79 4.5 The Federal Government's Mechanisms for Responding to Mine Emergencies 80 4.6 Recommendations 82 CHAPTER 5. CONSIDERATIONS PERTAINING TO GOVERNMENT SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 85 5.1 The Idealized R&D Process 86 5.2 R&D in the Private and Public Sectors 87 5.3 Design Considerations for Escape, Survival and Rescue Equipment 90 5.4 Recommendations 93 GENERAL REFERENCES ........................... 95 APPENDICES Appendix I 97 Interagency Memoranda of Understanding Between USBM, MS HA, and NIOSH Appendix II 107 The USBM-MSHA Procedure for Ranking Proposed Research Projects Appendix III ll7 List of USBM Post-Disaster Research Projects
