From this morning's Toronto Star:
ESTERHAZY, Sask. — All 72 miners have been brought to the surface safe and sound from a potash mine after spending more than 24 hours trapped by fire deep below the earth’s surface.Meanwhile, this morning's Crain's has a subscription-only article about proposed mine safety legislation in the Ohio General Assembly -- an article which consists mostly of quotes from the CEO of Murray Energy Corporation of Pepper Pike, explaining his "strong opposition" to any such legislation. Robert Murray, who runs two of the state's largest underground mines, wants a 'blue ribbon panel" to propose changes in Federal, not state, mine safety rules, including mandatory fire training and drug testing.
Greg Harris, one of the miners, said he was never really concerned about his safety as he played a makeshift game of checkers with colleagues in an airtight refuge room waiting to be rescued.
He and his friends drew the checkerboard on the back of a map and used washers as playing pieces.
“Everything is good,” said an exhausted Harris from his home.
“Communication was excellent. We had no problems whatsoever.”
The miners were trapped when fire broke out in polyethylene piping nearly a kilometre underground at about 3 a.m. yesterday.
They quickly retreated to so-called refuge stations — spacious chambers that can be sealed off and are equipped with supplies of oxygen, food and water.
... Shannon Reitenbach, an industrial mechanic at the mine who was not underground during the fire, said employees hold routine fire drills and are trained to keep in constant contact with people on the surface.
Employees also have detailed maps of the labyrinth of mine shafts and are told which shafts have fresh air and which ones are filled with exhaust, including smoke.
He said the fact the mine has two main shafts makes it more safe than single-shaft mines used in some coal fields.
On proposed requirements for wireless communication and monitoring equipment, Murray told Crain's that "the will is there...Unfortunately, the technology isn't."
Hmmm. Maybe it's only available in Canada.
If Crain's asked Murray for his opinion about better emergency air supplies and pre-installed airtight safe areas -- like the ones that saved 72 miners in Saskatchewan yesterday -- his replies are not reported.
P.S. Just in case you're inclined to give some credence to Mr. Murray's line that "the technology isn't there" for effective mine communication, let me recommend:
this informative piece from Confined Space (a blog about workplace health and safety) on why wireless Personal Emergency Devices and radio trackers weren't available to the miners trapped at Sago; and
this description of a fiber ethernet system installed in Pacificorps' Deer Creek Mine in Utah.