WV COAL

[dazbt]

www.spike.com/full-episodes/29v111/coal-the-master-mines-season-1-ep-101

[John]

Apr 1, 2011 2:55:36 GMT -5 dazbt said:

www.spike.com/full-episodes/29v111/coal-the-master-mines-season-1-ep-101

Good God, I'd have got the sack if I'd taped a cable up like they did!! Probably would have been handed over to the Inspector for legal proceedings against me in court too!!!
I had a shearer cable sheath damaged in the M/G cable/hose carrier, it tripped the transformer. Rather than replace it, I opened it up to examine it and had a Scotchcast sent down to me to repair it. At that time they were legal. Within a year the Chief Inspector of Mines for NSW condemned them. So any damage, the cables had to be replaced and the damaged cable sent to the surface to an approved cable repair shop.

Looks very much like the JCM didn't have dust suppression water too.

[John]

That repair was an illegal repair, according to WV electrical regulations for trailing cables in coal mines, no splice is allowed within 25 feet of a machine.
That film provides enough evidence to get the mine owner hung, drawn and quartered.

[brewtime]

Does health and safety go out the window when the Tele cameras start rolling, like Ax men it appears the blokes take stupid risks to look macho on TV, No dust suppression on the JCM, no dust masks, no hearing protection and using a hammer to bring down the roof. to name Just a few examples.

It did seem to stereotype US miners as Thick Hicks

[John]

Did you read the comments??? One miner posted, if that's the best CM miner in WV, how come he's working in such crap conditions!
Besides, it's not rocket science being a CM driver, most if not all operators are pretty reasonable after a week at the job.
A friend of mine in Oz, who finished up as a Deputy, learned to drive the miner during production shifts, he picked it up pretty good and was competent within a month.

Like you say, they appear to be dumb operating with no safety protections.

My hearing loss is partly attributable with working in pillar extraction with no hearing protection, it was a case of wearing ear muffs and risking life and limb by not being able to hear the "soldier props" "talking" or being safe, I like the others chose the safe route.

As the electrician on our longwall, like the rest of the crew I had to wear hearing protection by law, and we all donned dust masks, even though we got drenched from the dust suppression blocks on the shearer.
Australia was dust suppression mad!! If the coal didn't get a good bath on the face, it damned well got a good shower at every loader point on the belts going outbye. ;D

[brewtime]

The cable repair was a real eye opener, no way would i have carried on mining with that bodge job, looking forward to the next episode, I reckon the Chinese must be cringing at their methods of working

[John]

Apr 2, 2011 15:31:15 GMT -5 brewtime said:

The cable repair was a real eye opener, no way would i have carried on mining with that bodge job, looking forward to the next episode, I reckon the Chinese must be cringing at their methods of working

Apparently under the regs they can do temp repairs, but not that close to the CM, as the CM is 1000 volts, to me that is sheer lunacy!!

The CM's when I was at Boulby operated at 3.3Kv, so had to be a bolted plug. Our boss applied to raise the voltages to 6.6Kv, the Inspector refuse point blank on the grounds our drivers had a bad record of pulling the cables out the plug!

If you read the regs for US collieries, it would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck!! Some rules are pretty still, but electrical appear to have been taken from the UK 1913 Act, real piss poor!
Qualifications for Elecs and fitters, not to mention mining supervisors, can't call them Deputies as they are nowhere near the same tech standards are all very weak.
There's no wonder there are still way too many serious accidents in US collieries.
I was looking at the certifications for mining elecs over here sometime back, I'm sure I could have passed the exam when I was a 2nd year apprentice. ;D In fact, since the basic start academic standards of UK apprentices is so high these days, I'd say any 1st year apprentice could pass the elecs certification exams over here!!

[dazbt]

Repercussions;


washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/04/msha-cites-wva-mine-after-watching-coal-tv


All the World's a stage.

[John]

I wonder if they will be careful in episode two Daz..... ;D ;D

[John]

I shake my head in total disbelief at part two, this can't be a real coal mine surely? I thought what I'd heard of US collieries was mostly BS. How on earth do they get 2 million tonnes production out of the large mines ?

I've worked down NCB pits and one private colliery in NSW Australia plus one NSW Energy Commission colliery, and all were better run than that pit was, plus the majority of the colliers were professionals and made those guys look like clowns from a circus.

And we used to criticize the NCB!!!

My apologies to any American collier, but the mine in the video is run and worked by a set of buffoons. Maybe other mines are run professionally, but that one is a one ring circus.

[dazbt]

Apr 9, 2011 15:25:13 GMT -5 John said:

I shake my head in total disbelief at part two, this can't be a real coal mine surely? I thought what I'd heard of US collieries was mostly BS. How on earth do they get 2 million tonnes production out of the large mines ?

I've worked down NCB pits and one private colliery in NSW Australia plus one NSW Energy Commission colliery, and all were better run than that pit was, plus the majority of the colliers were professionals and made those guys look like clowns from a circus.
And we used to criticize the NCB!!!

My apologies to any American collier, but the mine in the video is run and worked by a set of buffoons. Maybe other mines are run professionally, but that one is a one ring circus.

They are learning ........... at least there is Budweiser without bubbles now.

[John]

They should go on the stage Daz, they'd make better comedians than coal miners......Maybe they are comedians..... ;D ;D ;D ;D

[John]

Well here we are, episode three and still cockups big time!!!
Belt extension, all the materials on the surface when they stop production to start the move..........
EVERYTHING for the extension should have been on site!!! Where's the planning at this one ring circus?
Then the CEO is looking for someone to blame when it's taking too long, he needs a friggin big mirror!!!
Belt extensions at three companies I worked at, (not even counting the NCB) were PLANNED, even though the men had done dozens of them, all materials were on site at least two days prior to the extensions and checked by the Deputy to make sure everything was there, ready.

I'm surprised they only have one shuttlecar, but that can be taken into account due to budget restrictions. Although an extra car would have put them in a stronger financial position.

Every bord and pillar face or development I've worked in has had two shuttlecars, a right and left, to keep the miner cutting without unnecessary stoppages.

[John]

I see Cobalt is a Canadian based company, they have a lot more mines than that one. One would think they'd employ people who know how to run a successful mining operation!

[timberlad]

Has anyone got a working link for the UK for episode 104 as i keep getting its not available in my area,
Thanx G

[John]

Try using a proxy server, that will give you a US IP address if you use one of the US based proxy's like "Anonymouse" or "hidemyass"

[timberlad]

thank you John i will try it

[timberlad]

Nope still didnt work

[John]

Apr 27, 2011 17:32:12 GMT -5 timberlad said:

Nope still didnt work

Missed this, sorry about that, Hopefully Daz will say how he views the videos, I live stateside so when I want to watch BBC videos I use a UK based proxy server.




Well been watching episode 5. Looks like they should be using "W" straps, mesh and props and bars through that bad work!!

[dazbt]

May 13, 2011 13:09:14 GMT -5 John said:

Apr 27, 2011 17:32:12 GMT -5 timberlad said:

Nope still didnt work

Missed this, sorry about that, Hopefully Daz will say how he views the videos, I live stateside so when I want to watch BBC videos I use a UK based proxy server.




Well been watching episode 5. Looks like they should be using "W" straps, mesh and props and bars through that bad work!!

No luck here either, only managed to watch the first few, further episodes have the 'not viewable in your region' type message.

[John]

Try using this to access the site Daz, it will hide your UK IP address.
www.hidemyass.com/

[dazbt]

May 14, 2011 7:59:50 GMT -5 John said:

Try using this to access the site Daz, it will hide your UK IP address.
www.hidemyass.com/

Thanks J, just tried that 'hide my bottom' and failed ........... gives "Player Load Error".
I also noticed that it shows only episodes 1,2 and 5 as being downloadable.

[John]

Proxy's probably slow things down. There is a way of watching videos in other parts of the world, I'll do a little research and post "how to" here when I've found out.
Odd though I managed to watch a video on the BBC using a proxy, BUT, the proxy server may not have been too busy when I accessed the Beeb.

Give this one a try Daz......anonymouse.org/anonwww.html

[dazbt]

Tried that as well, plus two others (Panda and another) all without any luck.

[John]

Try this youtube video Daz, shows how to watch videos blocked in other countries..

[John]

Did it help??? I was a bit busy yesterday to try the method out.

[dazbt]

May 15, 2011 6:47:32 GMT -5 John said:

Did it help??? I was a bit busy yesterday to try the method out.

fraid not, even tried a few more other 'iffy' download assisters, but no luck with any of em.

[John]

I noted there were several videos on Youtube on the same subject, I'll check them out later and if time, I'll test them using the BBC as a test bed and post the results here.

Hula, I think that's the site, have been having problems with the big TV companies with allowing wholesale world wide viewing of video content. I started watching the whole Hill Street Blues series on there and the wife started watching Quantum Leap. The owners of the copyright pulled several later series from being watched. No explanation, just stopped viewing rights.

[coalfire]

I was getting ready to try and defend these guys. That was until I watched the show last night. Two hours to change a broken torque shaft. I used to race myself to see how fast I could change one of these. 2:52 seconds is my all time fastest. So continue on with the roasting my Uk roasters.

[John]

I've worked in coal and hard rock mines as an electrician Lannie, I served my juvenile apprenticeship in the UK's nationalized coal industry during the 1960's under an old scheme called the "mechElec scheme, where because of the shortage of fitters, (mechanics) the electricians were authorized to carry out mechanical work. And I have never seen such a circus!

Both the UK laws and New South Wales laws in both coal and hard rock, would never allow me to tape up any damaged cable other than on one in an Intrinsic Safety circuit. Not even as low as 110 volts.

All trailing cables damaged must be withdrawn and replaced if ANY damage to them occurred. NSW mines law required the company to keep spare cables in each district. In fact we had one spare miner cable and three spare shuttle car cables at one company I worked for.

The belt move got my head shaking, our men carried out a belt move in just a couple of hours, everything was on site before the move was started, nothing was left to chance.

We bolted after every full cut of the miner with hand held bolting machines, "W" straps set every couple of yards and props and half round bars set every couple of yards too. Leave a roof unsupported for even an hour and bed separation takes place, making even bolted roof suspect.

One district I was covering as electrician, the Under Manager had been in on dayshift and found the props six inches over centre. He had the district Deputy in the office. (Safety Foreman) He warned him if he went in again and found supports not in accordance with the Managers support plan or better, he would go after the Deputy's "ticket". (bust him).
The shift after, it was one car cut, and he shouted PROPS AND BAR!!! Once the men were pissed off, they started working tightly to the Managers support rules.

Both the UK's Mines Inspectorate, known to us as HMI and the New South Wales Department of Mines Inspectors were all highly qualified men, having Mines Managers qualifications, (Equiv to Bsc level) and the Elec and Mech Inspectors were qualified Mine Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, having done their time from apprentice up to tradesmen and earned academic qualifications in mine elec and mine mech courses.

These were men who could see things we had missed, so we were instructed to check everything in our districts when a visit was due.

Covering things up wasn't an option Lannie, minor things yes, anything else could and would land us up in court, so we weren't willing to take too many risks. Yes we all "bent the rules" But it was a case of how far???

I've stood my ground on the automatic methane monitor required on the longwall face, signals along a belt and a few other things. I wasn't willing to risk my job or the lives of men I worked with.

Now you can see why we see that Cobalt Mine as a one ring circus, run and worked by a team of clowns.
Nearly everything they do, goes against everything we were taught and learned during our time underground.