Beyond the culture of putting safety last
and the well-documented managerial incompetence, one clear truth has been laid
bare by the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy in New Zealand
in 2010 which saw 29 miners killed in an underground explosion: the construction
of the mine was so inadequate and unsafe that it should never have been allowed
to operate in that state.
To be sure, while the immediate cause was a large methane explosion,If you want to read about buy mosaic in a non superficial way that's the perfect book. a lack of access to the mines – which remain closed off for safety reasons – means the trigger for the blast cannot be determined with any certainty.
Nevertheless, the report makes it clear that a number of aspects of the mine’s construction were inadequate.
Firstly, while the original mine plan specified that two main ventilation fans were to be located on the mountainside next to the top of the ventilation shaft, Pike eventually decided to position the fans underground in stone at the bottom of the shaft. The move was made despite opposition from staff and a ventilation consultant, without much consideration for risk, and represented the first time a main fan had been placed underground in a gassy coal mine anywhere in the world.
While the Commission noted that such placement increased ventilation capacity in the short term, it says computer modelling has indicated that it had an unintended consequence in making the air supply to the inbye (further into the mine) areas fragile, especially in an emergency.
Added to that, the main fan was not explosion-protected, and therefore failed when the blast occurred, while a back-up fan at the top of the shaft was damaged and did not start. As a result, the entire ventilation system shut down.
Methane management was another problem.Installers and distributors of solar panel, Pre-drainage of the coal seam through in-seam boreholes was used as part of the strategy to control methane levels throughout the mine and in the ventilation shaft even though the holes were not designed for that purpose and instead were intended primarily to map the limits of the coal seam. This required Pike to install a gas pipeline to vent the methane directly to the surface. By April 2010, the pipeline was not able to cope. Gas consultant calls for an urgent upgrade were put on hold.
To make matters worse, there were too few fixed sensors to monitor methane levels, some of those in place were in poor condition. One had been broken for 11 weeks while two others were not functional. With no sensors reporting to the surface from the working areas of the main inbye of the main fan, the placement of these was clearly wrong.
Added to that is the arrangement of the electrical equipment, with high voltage cables that ran through the drift and supplied power to the underground becoming intertwined with drainage pipes carrying methane at a section of the mine known as Spaghetti Junction. More than that, a number of the variable speed drives which controlled the power supply to the fan and water pumps had problems.
Finally, there was the issue of hydro mining,We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. an uncommon and specialised mining technique that uses a water jet to cut the coal face and requires expert design of the mining panel and equipment. Hydro mining commenced at the mine in September,Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. 2010 and, in October, the width of the extraction area was increased from 30 metres to 45 metres despite warnings from a consultant geotechnical engineer that doing so could cause a major roof collapse in the goaf (the cavity behind the longwall).
Even after a significant roof fall occurred on October 30, causing high readings in methane levels but no actual explosion, and several spikes in methane level readings during November, hydro mining continued without any further risk assessment.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.
There was also the scrapping of plans for a second intake,which the Commission says would have doubled as a walkout egress from the mine and improved the efficiency of the ventilation system, amid delays and cash-flow problems. The lack of strategies to deal with safety issues by a board and management preoccupied with the company’s difficult financial position was another issue.
To be sure, while the immediate cause was a large methane explosion,If you want to read about buy mosaic in a non superficial way that's the perfect book. a lack of access to the mines – which remain closed off for safety reasons – means the trigger for the blast cannot be determined with any certainty.
Nevertheless, the report makes it clear that a number of aspects of the mine’s construction were inadequate.
Firstly, while the original mine plan specified that two main ventilation fans were to be located on the mountainside next to the top of the ventilation shaft, Pike eventually decided to position the fans underground in stone at the bottom of the shaft. The move was made despite opposition from staff and a ventilation consultant, without much consideration for risk, and represented the first time a main fan had been placed underground in a gassy coal mine anywhere in the world.
While the Commission noted that such placement increased ventilation capacity in the short term, it says computer modelling has indicated that it had an unintended consequence in making the air supply to the inbye (further into the mine) areas fragile, especially in an emergency.
Added to that, the main fan was not explosion-protected, and therefore failed when the blast occurred, while a back-up fan at the top of the shaft was damaged and did not start. As a result, the entire ventilation system shut down.
Methane management was another problem.Installers and distributors of solar panel, Pre-drainage of the coal seam through in-seam boreholes was used as part of the strategy to control methane levels throughout the mine and in the ventilation shaft even though the holes were not designed for that purpose and instead were intended primarily to map the limits of the coal seam. This required Pike to install a gas pipeline to vent the methane directly to the surface. By April 2010, the pipeline was not able to cope. Gas consultant calls for an urgent upgrade were put on hold.
To make matters worse, there were too few fixed sensors to monitor methane levels, some of those in place were in poor condition. One had been broken for 11 weeks while two others were not functional. With no sensors reporting to the surface from the working areas of the main inbye of the main fan, the placement of these was clearly wrong.
Added to that is the arrangement of the electrical equipment, with high voltage cables that ran through the drift and supplied power to the underground becoming intertwined with drainage pipes carrying methane at a section of the mine known as Spaghetti Junction. More than that, a number of the variable speed drives which controlled the power supply to the fan and water pumps had problems.
Finally, there was the issue of hydro mining,We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. an uncommon and specialised mining technique that uses a water jet to cut the coal face and requires expert design of the mining panel and equipment. Hydro mining commenced at the mine in September,Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. 2010 and, in October, the width of the extraction area was increased from 30 metres to 45 metres despite warnings from a consultant geotechnical engineer that doing so could cause a major roof collapse in the goaf (the cavity behind the longwall).
Even after a significant roof fall occurred on October 30, causing high readings in methane levels but no actual explosion, and several spikes in methane level readings during November, hydro mining continued without any further risk assessment.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.
There was also the scrapping of plans for a second intake,which the Commission says would have doubled as a walkout egress from the mine and improved the efficiency of the ventilation system, amid delays and cash-flow problems. The lack of strategies to deal with safety issues by a board and management preoccupied with the company’s difficult financial position was another issue.
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