To Save Lives, Mine Rescuers Must Guard Their Own

(April 6) -- In the wake of Monday's deadly explosion in a West Virginia coal mine, the thoughts and prayers of people across the country are going out to the miners and their families, as officials say the search for four missing men could take several more days.

Yet it should be remembered that the rescuers themselves -- who are drilling holes to release toxic gases from the blast site, according to various local and national sources -- have an extremely difficult and dangerous job ahead of them.

Already, rescue teams have searched through Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine "past the point where they were endangering their own lives" because of the high levels of methane, according to the Charleston Gazette.

Crews are bulldozing a road to allow workers to drill four shafts to release the remaining methane and carbon monoxide, The Associated Press reports. "It's just going to be a slow process," Gov. Joe Manchin was quoted saying.

Why such a delay? Certainly, everyone wants the rescue effort to proceed as quickly as possible. The teams are bound, however, by a complex system of safety procedures recently put into place by the federal government.

In 2006 the West Virginia towns of Sago and Alma suffered two coal mine accidents that collectively claimed the lives of 14. Prompted by these tragedies as well as a coal mine explosion that killed five in Kentucky that same year, Congress passed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act, which implemented stricter emergency-response protocols for the nation's 650 underground coal mines.

Outlined in a 2008 document by Health Department scientist Charles P. Lazzara, the MINER protocols for rescue operations mandate first setting up a central command center to coordinate overlapping rescue teams, similar to the way different fire departments sometimes coordinate their efforts to combat a single blaze.

Each rescue officer tasked with entering the mine must have received a minimum 20 hours of instruction in emergency-response procedures, plus 96 hours of annual refresher training, according to Lazzara. A single rescue team should be made up of six such trained officers, plus alternates.

Each member of the team serves a different function and carries out specific duties: The captain leads the group and makes the decisions on when and where to go inside the mine; the map person notes the location of damaged areas and the path of the team through the mine; two people check for the presence of gas using electronic detectors; the "tail person" relays information to the "fresh-air base"; and the briefing officer remains at the fresh-air base to communicate with the tail person.

The fresh-air base is set up at the final spot within the mine where the rescue team can safely breathe without resorting to a breathing apparatus such as a gas mask. Here the team sets up a temporary airlock (often an inflatable one) to keep any remaining toxicity within the mine.

During its exploration of the mine, the team must complete a variety of tasks, as Lazzara explained:

Team members make gas tests, assess conditions, examine the roof and ribs, set roof supports, construct temporary ventilation controls, mark the travel route, and search for clues as to where survivors may be located. The team is on the alert for and eliminates any possible sources of ignition. All findings are mapped and reported to the fresh air base. The same information is relayed to the command center.

All the while, team members are connected by a system of ropes and pulleys, which are attached to lines on the surface to guide them back. In addition, team members use lasers, strobe lights and light vests to illuminate the darkened mine and keep track of one another.

It is the captain's responsibility to check back with his team members every 15 to 20 minutes to ask how they are feeling. If they are experiencing fatigue or symptoms of gas poisoning, the entire team must return to the surface. The team is also barred from spending more than two hours underground at a time.

"Using the two hours as a guideline, it would require six teams to maintain a continuous rescue operation over a 24-hour period, assuming each team is rotated twice during this period and is given adequate rest," Lazzara wrote.

If survivors are found, the team should attempt to remove them from the mine for medical treatment as fast as possible. In some cases, emergency first aid is needed on the spot -- but, as Lazzara noted, "there are no requirements that emergency medical technicians or paramedics be on a rescue team," meaning on-site first aid is often limited.

Fortunately, among those drafted into the rescue effort at Upper Big Branch are three expert teams from nearby Pennsylvania, the Wheeling News-Register reports. They are employees of Consol Energy, one of the nation's largest mining companies and, interestingly, a longtime competitor of Upper Big Branch's owner, Massey Energy.

One of the Consol teams is recognized as among the best in the nation, having placed second in the 2009 National Mine Rescue Contest, according to the newspaper. Besides that annual contest, which is put on by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a number of states host their own smaller competitions to prepare rescue operators via simulated mine explosions, mine collapses or above-ground disasters.

The MINER rules stipulate that a rescue operator participate in "a minimum of two local mine rescue contests" as a part of the annual refresher training. But while the contests are often seen as fun, team-building activities, they also provide the necessary hands-on training required when a real emergency strikes.