The Price of Coal!

[John]

Another 302 miners lost their lives in a Chinese firedamp explosion.
Last year over 6000 miners lost their lives in Chinese pits. Shades of 19th century private British enterprise!
Seems bloody odd that the majority are government owned pits too!

[John]

The death toll is rising, have'nt the Chinese ever heard of stonedust and water barriers?

[John]

Another 100 men trapped in a Chinese colliery! The slaughter continues!

[John]

Another ignition of gas, this time in Poland killing many. Many more still missing, cut off by major roof falls.
This from the country that gave us the stone dust barrier.

[John]

It was the anniversery of the Sago mining disaster on Saturday, one year ago!
Last night I watched a reconstruction documentary of the accident, caused by a build up of methane in old workings and truggered by a lightning storm on the surface.
I'm surprised they didn't have explosion proof stoppings between the old workings and the active workings.
As far as the self contained self rescuers they had, I think I'd have far more trust in the old style rescuers that just converted CO to CO2.
I also noted the miners had to be told to don rescuers, whereas I was always taught after an ignition, or first sign of fire, don the rescuer and DON'T remove it until instructed to by an official of the mine.

[Clive]

My Grandad was shot at the battle of loos in 1915. The battle raged amongst the pit heaps and colliery village. I was looking up some info for a friend in the US and remembered the explosion in Courrrier about 1905 I think. Over 1100 men killed. But couldnt find much info on the net nor info on the village, photos ect. Has anyone come accross any info?

Clive

[John]

More dead!

MOSCOW - A methane gas explosion ripped through a Siberian coal mine Monday, killing at least 61 miners among nearly 200 working underground in one of the deadliest mining accidents in Russia in the past decade.


Sergei Salov, a spokesman for the federal Emergency Situations Ministry, said 75 miners were rescued and 61 killed in the explosion at Ulyanovskaya mine.

Nearly 200 miners were working in the mine in the coal-rich southern Kuzbass region when the blast occurred early Monday. At least five were injured in the explosion, emergency officials said.

Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Alina Avyazova said rescue workers were in contact with surviving miners underground. It was not clear whether they were in immediate danger.

The Ulyanovskaya mine is in Novokuznetsk, a sprawling city about 1,850 miles east of Moscow in a coal-rich swath of south-central Siberia known as the Kuzbass. The hardscrabble city is set among hills crowded with active and abandoned coal mines amid a grim industrial landscape.

The mine — operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, an affiliate of Russian coal and steel company Evraz Group SA — opened in 2002 and produces 3.3 million U.S. tons of coal a year, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

A blast at a mine on the outskirts of Novokuznetsk killed 47 workers in 2004 — the deadliest in the region since 1997, when a methane explosion at a mine in the city killed 67.

At least 30 workers died in Russian mining accidents last year, including 25 who perished in a fire at a Siberian gold mine. In the U.S. last year, 47 workers died in mine accidents.

[limey]

I just found out that the only Brit killed in the Ulyanovskaya mine explosion was somebody I knew! Ian Robertson was the husband to-be of a young lady who lived in a flat downstairs from me in London back in 1972. Ian was a regular visitor and we would often go drinking together. He graduated from Nottingham University.

Surprisingly, this is the first time that somebody I know (or knew) has been killed in a mining accident! His funeral is today.

[John]

It's a bit of a shock when you hear someone you know/knew died in an accident!

Fatal accidents happened all too often at Cleveland Potash's Boulby mine while I was there. Problem was, we were in the "unknown", deepest mine in the UK, conditions nobody had worked in before, geological conditions new to all of us uncluding our very experienced geology department and mining department. The Managers who were in charge during my stay there all had BSC's in mining and had years of experience in coal, gold and other minerals.
A young miner was killed a couple of weeks before Christmas in my district on my shift, a continuous miner driver on another shift was killed in an outburst of gas, a mate of mine and a miner were killed one Saturday morning when we were on overtime.
Several others lost their lives at that mine while I was there and some after I'd left.

One of our engineers at Angus Place was killed on the Christmas three week shutdown at Angus Place Colliery. Out of that accident came an international system of colour coding oil drums.
A miner I knew very well at that pit died in an accident a few years ago, a real nice bloke too!
It's shocking, even one death.. Something we all had to live with while underground.

[dazbt]

Hya Limey, I have only just managed to get back on-line after a good few weeks of being without a computer and just read your post about Ian Robertson. I worked with Ian for a quite a few years in the UK and shared a joint 'two month adventure' driving to and working in Poland with him, we also shared a common passion for traditional folk music although I could never have matched his talent for playing the squeeze box or his courage to dance in a Morris team. Amongst many others I attended his funeral service, which, as Ian would no doubt have wished it was anything but orthodox, one of the hymns being Lord of the Dance and the two 'clerics' who conducted the service were both friends of Ian's who gave him an honest and practically humorous send off. In relating anecdotes of Ian's working experience as well as his family life the clerics frequently called on Andrea or her family to add their input, I came away from the service a good bit lighter in spirit that when I first entered the church. Ian died in what could only be described as horrific circumstances along with more than one hundred fellow coal miners, but at least he had ensured that during his relatively short life he had not wasted any of it.

[limey]

Hey Daz - thanks for the report - it is a smally world, isn't it! I actually lived in a flat in west London and Andi lived downstairs - we would regularly go down to the local, and if Ian was around he would join us. One of my flat mates, Andre McRobie, who I am still in contact with also went to the funeral.

By the way - I also share the folk music and Morris dancing passion - but I haven't done any Morris dancing in a number of years - it is hard to find folks daft enough to do it in these parts!

[dazbt]

The results of the the investigation into the Russian explosion states that the automatic methane monitoring system had been defeated by human intervention i.e. sensors had been covered over or otherwwise defeated, it is also suggested that this was done on instructions from management at the mine. As a result of this announcement a suggestion has been made that better wages would result in removing the tempation to defeat safety systems that directly affect earnings based on production, I personally think that anyone who believes that increased wages would prevent miners defeating mechanical appliances that prevent production, even on the obvious grounds of safety, have never worked in a coal mine, anyone else any thoughts on that?
Hya Limey I can well understand that there would be a shortage of 'MORRIS' dancers in Detroit but perhaps the formation of a team of 'CADILLAC' dancers might just take off there .............??

[John]

Gee and I stopped us coaling because I found the methane monitoring equipment wasn't working! I was on swing shift, not a normal maintenance shift at Angus Place, and was instructed that before we started shearing to carry out the monthly methane monitor test. This entails taking a sample methane gas bottle and testing equipment underground. We had two sensors at the tailgate end of the face mounted on the roof beams of the chockshields, next to last ones on the face, plus the electronics in the M/G.
I knew one cable was open circuit, so we were operating on the spare. Testing, I found both sensors faulty and registering nothing, these were supposed to be fail to safety too!
We didn't have a spare unit!
The Undermanager tried to bully me into allowing the face to operate with the Deputy sitting at the tailgate with his oil lamp and D6 methane detector. I said NO! The law required an automatic contrivance that removed power at 1.5% and I would not allow it to be flouted on safety grounds. I also stipulated if I was removed from the face I'd proceed to the surface and contact the Elec Engineer, Manager and district Mining Inspector, I was adamant! Safety over bonus. The face team backed me up 100% to a man, so the Under manager went out the pit and got the Coal Mines Act out, this I got from our surface electrician who was working in the lamp cabin at the time adjacent to the UM's office.
What strong unionism can do for safety!!

[linbylad]

Ayup me ducks, Linbylad here. I just registered today. I've visited this site several times but did not register because there did not seem to be much activity. This seems to have picked up recently and I have spent some time reading the archives for the last two years and had a few laughs in the process.

My name is Ron Horton and I spent all my working career in mining (46 years). I started at Linby Colliery in South Notts after leaving school in 1956. I became an apprentice electrician and later electrician. I left in 1975 for a similar job in a trona mine in Green River, Wyoming, USA. I then joined Anderson Mavor (USA) Ltd. the American subsidiary of Anderson Strathclyde PLC in Motherwell, Scotland, as a service engineer in 1978. I retired (forced) in 2002 . I now live in Morgantown, West Virginia.

I know, or know of, several persons who post on this forum or others. The famous Dazbt is a legend is his own lunchtime in the Anderson ex-employees society ;D.

I spent a lot of time yesterday and today following the accident in Huntington, Utah. I am a bit surprised that a thread has not been started on this subject. I spent a lot of time in that area years ago and I am very familiar with the mining done in the mountains. Daz will also know the area as he worked at the Braztah Mine just over the mountain from Huntington.

I have worked in mines where "bumps" occur in the past and didn't like it one bit which influenced my decision to relocate to the Eastern States. The mine (part)owner has already said the accident was caused by an earthquake although the general opinion of seismologists is that it was not. Time will reveal the truth and everybody at the site should concentrate on rescuing the miners instead of scoring points.

My thoughts are with the trapped miners and their families at this time and hope for a good conclusion.

I look forward to your opinions on the above.

Linby Lad.

[John]

Ayup me owd ducks!! Nice to have a Nottinum lad wi us, makes me feel quite happy!
56, I wonder if you went to tech school etc with an old mate of mine, Trev Shaw, I'm sure your about the same age as him. He served his time at Cotgrave and moved around the Notts coalfield until he flew the coop to Canada where he's retired now.

My Sis used to live around the corner from Linby, or at least the site that was once Linby!
I'm a Nottingham lad meself, Clifton and Cotgrave pits.
We used to get bumps in the NSW southern coalfields, got used to them, just stresses relieving themselves, never got to fear them, although I once saw a new starter run the marathon after one. LOL
Yeh our Daz has a bit of a reputation from Utah to Katmandu to some of the unpronouncable Australian names, although I doubt he's been to Wagga Wagga! Nor seen the Dog on the Tuckerbox either..

Welcome old chum, enjoy your stay and relate a tale or two!

[John]

BTW Ron, I'm in south central Missouri, a stones throw from the Arkansas state line!

[linbylad]

admin said:

BTW Ron, I'm in south central Missouri, a stones throw from the Arkansas state line!

Thanks for the welcome John. You are right, I do have a lot of tales to tell but not as many as dazbt, he's a regular encyclopaedihatrick.

I have visited Missouri, they seem to have more hillbillies than West Virginia. ;D

I see that a thread has been started about the Utah mine accident, so I am going to put in my two-penneth now.

Linby Lad.

[rob52]

Mine Accidents in Australia
(As listed on the site)

Mine Disasters in Australia
(As listed on the site)

The Human Face of Australian Mining Fatalities

Rob

[John]

Jan 4, 2017 7:39:23 GMT -5 rob52 said:

Mine Accidents in Australia (As listed on the site)

Mine Disasters in Australia (As listed on the site)

The Human Face of Australian Mining Fatalities

Rob

I had trouble with the links in Robs post so if anyone else cannot access the sites here they are... I think they lost some of the URL.

1/ www.mineaccidents.com.au/mine-events/all/au

2/??

3/ www.aminerslegacy.com.au/

[rob52]

1908 Data Employment and Accidents in Australian Coal Mining

ABS Stats source
"
The number of persons employed in coal mining in each of the States during the year 1908 is shown below. The table also shows the number of persons killed and injured, with the proportion per 1000 employed, while further columns are added showing the quantity of coal raised for each person killed and injured, this being a factor which must be reckoned with in any consideration of the degree of risk attending mining operations.

Returns published by the Board of Trade, England, give the total known number of persons engaged in mining and quarrying throughout the world as about 5 2/3 millions, more than one-half of whom were employed in coal mining, the number in the United Kingdom being 918,400; the United States, 641,000; Germany, 545,000; France, 176,000; Belgium, 143,000; Austria, 70,000; and India, 113,000.

The latest returns show the death rate in the United Kingdom in respect of deaths through accidents in coal mines as 1.31, and for the British Empire 1.33 per 1000 Persons employed in coal mines.
For France the rate is given as 1.10, for Germany 2.55, and the United States 4.66. For foreign countries generally the rate is stated at 3,04 per 1000.


1908 Australian Industry Statistics

State                      Persons Employed    No. Killed    No. Injured    Tons/person Killed
New South Wales    17,734                     21               111               435,572
Victoria                  542                          1                  7                 113,962
Queensland            1,672                       3                  29               232,111
South Australia        …                            …                  …                …
Western Australia    280                        1                   32                ...
Tasmania               189                        *                    *                 *
Commonwealth†     20,228                    26                179              389,714

* = No Detail available for Tasmania
"

Rob

[rob52]

www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0004/182326/International-Mining-Fatality-Review-database.XLS

World Fatalities



Rob

[rob52]

1907 Coal Mine Accidents Their Causes & Prevention Report

Pg 5 Lists 1890 - 1906 Number of Men killed in the Coal Mines of USA

Pg6 Number of Men Killed in Coal Mines of USA for each 1,000 men employed
Pg7 Number of Men Killed in Coal Mines of Great Britain for each 1,000 men employed

Gas & Dust Explosions
Powder Explosions
Falls of Roof & Coal
Other Causes

Rob

[rob52]

Coal Fatalities United States Department of Labour

Coal Fatalities United States Department of Labour.

Coal Daily Fatality Report - April 11, 2017
2013 - U/G = 6, Surf = 2
2014 - U/G = 3, Surf = 0
2015 - U/G = 4, Surf = 1
2016 - U/G = 4, Surf = 0
YTD 2017 - U/G = 2, Surf = 3

Rob

[rob52]

QLD Australia Mine Health Safety Performance Reports

With the 2016-2017 report due soon, timely to review last year.

2015-2016 Qld Australia Report
Pg17 Fig 1.1 - QLD Fatalities All Sectors 1900 - 2016
Pg18 Fig 1.2 - 2006 to 2016 Fatalities Vs Employment All Sectors
Pg19 Part of Table 1.2 - Permanent Incapacities - Coal U/G
Pg21 Table 1.3 - High Potential Incident Rate per 1000 workers 2011-2016 Coal U/G…unfortunately still at the top
Pg24 Fig 1.9 - LTI & DI Vs employment Numbers Coal Mines 2006 - 2016
Pg27 Fig 1.14 U/G Coal High Potential Incidents by Type 2015-2016…..sheeh….39.6% were Electrical!
Pg28 Fig 1.15 Surface Metalliferous High Potential Incidents by Type 2015-2016…..sheeh….18.9% were Electrical!
Pg35 Table 3.1 Number of LTIs 2011-2016 - Coal
Pg38 Change in Employees 2011 - 2016. O/C Coal 33820 drops to 23731. U/G Coal 7207 drops to 4628
Pg39 Total Hrs Worked 2011 - 2016. O/C Coal 64.2 drops to 49.8. U/G Coal 17.3 drops to 13.7

************

1882-2012 QLD Australia Fatalities
Pg4 Has table of data that you can put into .xls & Graph
Pg5-pg22 provides a brief description of each incident

2 May 1913 is brutal - Fatally injured whilst attempting to jump over a coal cutting machine by placing his foot on the centre plate. While in the act of springing, his head struck the roof and as he fell his leg went between the machine frame and the cutting chain and was instantly cut off. He later died from his injuries on 6 May 1913.

19 March 1992 is brutal - Fatally injured whilst training on a miner remote control when a nearby rib fell into the mesh. Took fright and ran across the cutter drums. He was caught and dragged into the cutter drums.

Interesting to Extract the Electrical Fatalities in Qld Coal Mines
8 February 1939 - Electrician electrocuted
12 October 1943 - Electrocution holding pipe with chain tongs
1962 - Electrician electrocuted
4 September 1963 - Electrocuted whilst using a power boring machine.
11 January 1972 - Electrician involved in gas ignition
23 February 1973 - Electrician electrocuted
27 March 1974 - Electrocution crane contact with 11kV
24 August 1980 - Electrical Apprentice Electrocuted
30 September 1980 - Fitter Welder electrocution

Of the 429 Fatalities to 6/2011 only 9 directly attributable to electrocution….However the percentage of HPI’s listed as Electrical in safety-performance-health-report-2015-16.pdf are a worry.

************
QLD Australia LTI, MTI & DI's

.....interesting to do
a) tons/manyear,
b) tons/LTI
c) tons/MTI
d) tons/DI
etc

Rob