LAMP HOUSE AND ATTENDANTS A suitable building or room should be provided for charging, issuing, receiving, and repairing electric cap lamps and flame safety lamps. Enough lamp-house attendants should be on duty at all times to distribute lamps promptly to men entering the mine, to collect from those leaving the mine, and to properly clean, charge, and repair the lamps being used; this lamp service is important and it should be done well. MESSROOM AND ATTENDANTS Members of the underground and surface organizations, relatives and friends of persons killed or injured, officials from other companies, and other visitors must be fed. For this purpose there should be a commissary and mess in charge of some designated person, with enough cooks, waiters, dishwashers, etc., available. The mess should be housed in a suitable building, room, or tent and be provided with tables, benches, stoves, cooking utensils, dishes, etc., so that the persons assigned to this duty can have a supply of hot, wholesome food available at all times for those engaged in the recovery work. Hot coffee and food, particularly fruit, also should be provided and delivered to those on duty underground, special effort being made to supply such food directly to the advance crews. SLEEPING QUARTERS AND REST ROOMS Men engaged in recovery work should have a comfortable place to rest and sleep where they will not be disturbed either by the other workers or in any manner, as the work is strenuous and demands expenditure of both physical and nervous energy. Therefore, if possible, separate sleeping quarters should be provided for the men of each shift in order that they may obtain the maximum amount of rest while off duty. Sleeping quarters should be in a quiet place, properly heated in cold weather and provided with comfortable cots and sufficient bedding. A comfortable rest room, separate and some distance from the sleeping quarters and provided with tables, benches or chairs, lights, etc., should be available for men not sleeping or not on duty. APPARATUS ROOM AND ATTENDANTS A room should be available in which to store, charge, and repair oxygen breathing apparatus, gas masks, and accessories. There should be on each shift at least two men competent to clean, recharge, test, and repair oxygen breathing apparatus and gas masks worn by the underground crews. To expedite extensive recovery work, it may be advisable to establish an underground base for cleaning, charging, testing, and repairing breathing apparatus and gas masks. The base may be moved from time to time to keep it in proximity to working crews. INFORMATION BUREAU Relatives and friends of persons injured, killed, or missing in a mine disaster naturally are vitally concerned in the recovery work. The public is also interested in the property damage, loss of life, and progress of recovery operations, particularly the rescuing of live men or recovery of bodies. An information bureau to issue informa tion to friends and relatives of entombed men and to press and public should be established. It should be directed preferably by a local mine or other company official or State inspector, and authentic information should be issued from time to time. Properly handled, an information bureau relieves anxiety and grief of relatives and friends, prevents injurious comment by outsiders, and obviates criticism and misleading statements by the press. All information should be issued by an authorized mine official or a representative of the State department of mines. EMERGENCY HOSPITAL A fully equipped emergency hospital, with doctors and nurses in attendance, should be established in a suitable building. Men found alive in the mine may be affected by noxious gases, severely burned, or otherwise injured; or some of those engaged in recovery work may require immediate hospital attention for injuries or effects of irrespirable gases. MORGUE AND ATTENDANTS Provision must be made for receiving the bodies of those killed in a mine disaster and preparing them for burial. If the mine is adjacent to a town or city, it may be convenient or desirable to take the bodies immediately to an undertaking establishment; however, where this is not possible or desirable, an improvised morgue should be established. This building preferably should be located some distance from the mine, should be well-ventilated, and should have good drainage facilities. A reliable man, with the necessary assistants, should be placed in charge of the morgue to make a record to identify as far as possible all bodies delivered to the morgue and to take possession of personal effects found with each body and deliver them to relatives. Undertakers and their assistants should prepare bodies for identification by relatives and friends and later for burial. LABORATORY AND ATTENDANTS Analyses of mine-air samples are often necessary in planning rescue and recovery operations after a mine fire or an explosion. It may be vitally important to obtain information quickly on the composition of mine air in a section of a mine, a return airway, or from behind fire seals. A room with suitable apparatus and materials should be provided with competent attendants available to analyze promptly and efficiently air samples delivered to the laboratory. MISCELLANEOUS CREWS AND PERSONNEL Miscellaneous surface crews, responsible to foremen, should be appointed to obtain, handle, and transport material required underground to the mine opening or to the bottom of the shaft, to pass cut and check equipment and supplies, and to perform other necessary duties. The permanent surface organization should take over and supplement, if necessary, the activities and duties performed by the temporary organization. Such organization should include a be stationed continuously at the fan; a man or men to search men going underground for smoking material, matches, and lighters, to test all flame safety lamps being taken underground, and to check underground workers into and out of the mine, and prevent unauthorized persons from going into the mine; and guards to see that ropes erected to exclude spectators from proximity to the mine entrance are in place, to keep unauthorized persons outside the ropes, and to see that roads leading to the mine are kept open for transportation of men and material. All of the officials, foremen in charge of crews, and other surface workers, as well as the underground workers, should be under the direction of the man in charge of operations. EQUIPMENT The safety and protection of men engaged in rescue and recovery operations demand that an ample supply of the proper type of protective, detective, lighting, and fire-fighting equipment and analytical apparatus in first-class condition be available. OXYGEN BREATHING APPARATUS AND GAS MASKS Self-contained (1- or 2-hour types) oxygen breathing apparatus and gas masks will be required by crews working in advance of fresh air, and enough of them in good condition, together with spare parts and supplies, should be available. The safe use of approved gas masks will be limited to places where a lighted flame safety lamp (or a candle in metal mines) will burn. DEVICES FOR DETECTING GASES Safety and good mining practice require that ample means be provided for the detection of mine gases by competent persons designated to use them. The necessary devices for detecting mine gases are permissible flame safety lamps, M. S. A. methane indicators, possibly continuous methane recorders (main return only), carbon monoxide detectors or canaries or both, and portable gas-analysis outfits. Sufficient supplies and spare parts to insure efficient operation of the gasdetecting devices should be available at all times. These devices should be used only by persons fully acquainted with them and their limitations. DEVICES FOR ILLUMINATION Men engaged in rescue and recovery operations in coal mines should be provided with permissible electric cap lamps or flashlights, or both, for illumination. In some instances permissible floodlights can be used to advantage and, if required, should be provided. In metal mines approved illuminating equipment is also preferable, as it will add to the safety and efficiency of the crews. In modern coal mines (and many metal mines) approved electric cap lamps are used exclusively for illumination and therefore will be available for use after a mine fire or explosion. Where permissible electric cap lamps are not regular mine equipment, at least 50, with necessary equipment for charging and repairing, should be provided at the earliest possible moment for use in recovery operations. PERMISSIBLE ELECTRIC LAMPS Under Schedules 6, 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D," the Bureau of Mines has approved various types of electric cap lamps, hand lamps, flood lamps, trip lamps, and animal lamps as permissible for use in gassy and dusty mines. CAP LAMPS Various models and designs of the Hirsch, Hubbell, General Electric, Manlite, Wico, Concordia (Ceag), Edison, and Wheat electric cap lamps have been approved. Many of these are no longer manufactured or used and therefore will not be considered. The two types of lamps in general use are the Edison and Wheat, several different models of which are in use. Following is a brief description, with illustrations, of the latest models of the Edison and Wheat electric cap lamps: EDISON (MODEL P) LAMPS The latest model Edison electric cap lamp (fig. 3) has a three-cell, Edison, nickel-alkali electrolyte battery in a monel-metal case with a FIGURE 3.-Edison (model P) electric cap lamp. magnetic lock. A bakelite headpiece provided with a two-filament (main and emergency) bulb, a reflector, lens, switch for operating the lamp, and a device for fastening to a miner's cap is connected to the battery by means of a rubber-covered cable. The headpiece switch is designed so that the current can be switched from either the main or emergency filament or turned on or off of either filament. The headpiece safety device consists of a spring that holds the bulb in the electric circuit as long as the bulb is intact, but provides that it falls out of the circuit if the bulb is broken. The headpiece is also sealed with a lead seal. The Edison model P cap lamp was approved by the Bureau of Mines (approval 26) on December 10, 1941. Bureau of Mines, Permissible Electric Cap Lamps, Procedure in Testing, Fees Charged, and Requirements for Approval: Sched, 6D, Aug. 26, 1939, 7 pp. WHEAT (MODEL GW) LAMP The latest model Wheat electric cap lamp (fig. 4) has a two-cell, lead-acid battery enclosed in a molded rubber case. A molded rubber headpiece equipped with a two-filament main bulb, a small emergency bulb, a reflector, lens, switch for operating the lamp, and a device for fastening to a miner's cap is connected to the battery by means of a rubber-covered cable. The headpiece switch is designed so that the current can be switched from either the main or emergency bulb and turned on or off either bulb. The headpiece safety device consists of springs that hold the bulbs in the electric circuit as long as the bulbs are intact, but provides that they fall out of the circuit if broken. The headpiece is also sealed with a lead seal. A unique feature of this lamp is that the battery can be charged through the headpiece without disconnecting it from the battery. The Wheat GW cap lamp was approved by the Bureau of Mines (approval 20) on March 13, 1940. The demand for approved flashlights for use in rescue and recovery work and by mine officials resulted in the development of such lamps. Under Schedules 11, 11A, 10B, and 10C, the Bureau of Mines has approved several types of these lamps. Some of the first lamps that were approved are no longer being made and are, therefore being used little if any. The following types are available: EVEREADY Four models (2- and 3-cell sizes, either focusing or prefocusing), approval No. 605, issued February 24, 1937, extended November 18, 1939, to cover prefocus models. National Carbon Co., Inc., unit of Union Carbide & Carbon Corp., Cleveland, Ohio, or 30 East 42d Street, New York 17, N. Y. TUFFITE Seven models. No. 7 waterproof model with internal switch, either 2 or 3 cells, models F-20 (2 cells) and F-30 (3 cells) with conventional thumb-operated switch. Model F-10 (2C size cells), models F-81 and F-91, prefocus; approval No. 606, issued to Stewart R. Browne Manufacturing Co., September 18, 1937, 6 Bureau of Mines, Electric Mine Lamps, Other Than Cap Lamps; Requirements for Permissibility Tests, Tests Made, and Fees Charged: Sched. 10C, May 17, 1938, 8 pp. |