United States
The United States’ Safety and Health Administration announced in mid January that underground coal mining operators must install proximity detection systems on mobile mining machines to reduce the incidence of pinning, crushing or striking accidents.
The new rule states that detection systems must use electronic sensors to help the machines and miners detect motion or location of an object relative to another. The sensors can be programmed so as to form a perimeter around a continuous mining machine and send a signal to the machine’s operator.
Under the federal rule, mine operators will be required to retrofit the machines with sensors, and new machinery must be fitted with the equipment.
Source: www.mining-technology.com/news/newsus-introduces-new-regulationto-minimise-accidents-in-undergroundcoal-mines-4489013
[/tab] [tab title=”2 Est”]Estonia
In late January two Estonian mine workers’ bodies were discovered after an accident at an underground oil shale mine in the country’s north east. The bodies, which were found by workers covering the following shift, showed no signs of violence or shaft cave-in, but authorities indicated that the workers might have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from poor ventilation.
Both men had worked in the mining industry for 18 years, and were employed to dig new underground paths. The mine was opened in 1972 and was run by Eesti Energia, a staterun company. It is the second incident to affect the company, after tons of ash fell on a group of employees at the Auvere Power Plant, killing eight.
Source: www.shanghaidaily.com/article/ article_xinhua.aspx?id=266257 news.postimees.ee/3074533/eesti-energiasays- killed-miners-had-years-of-experience
[/tab] [tab title=”3 SA”]South Africa
Twelve illegal miners were rescued after becoming trapped in an abandoned gold mine shaft near Johannesburg in mid February, however many other trapped miners refused to be rescued upon realising they would face arrest when they reached the surface.
The exact number of miners that remained underground was unknown, and emergency services spokesman Werner Vermaak said it was too dangerous to go down the shaft.
The artisanal miners became trapped by fallen boulders below the surface at the old mine site. A passing police patrol became aware of the situation after hearing shouts. A spokesman for Gold One, the company that owns the closed mine site, said the miners dug a tunnel next to the access shaft and it collapsed behind them, possibly due to heavy rain.
Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-16/ trapped-miners-rescued-from-disusedshaft- near-johannesburg/5263322
[/tab] [tab title=”4 Tur”]Turkey
As a result of numerous fatal accidents – many of which headlined internationally in 2014 – Turkey’s Parliamentary Commission on Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources and Information Technology passed new draft mining laws in January.
The new regulations will see changes to the transfer of mining licenses, the establishment of a permanent supervision system and greater consideration for the environment. The country’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said ambitious measures were necessary and more checks have been conducted since the accidents.
More than 301 miners died in a single industrial accident in Soma last year, the worst in Turkish history, and a further 18 died in a separate accident only six months later.
Sources: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ mining-regulations-changing-in-turkeyafter- deadly-accidents.aspx?pageID=238& nID=77352&NewsCatID=347
[/tab] [tab title=”5 Ukr”]Ukraine
In late January, approximately 500 miners became trapped in an eastern Ukrainian coalmine when a mortar shell hit the power station that provides the project’s electricity. Whether the shell was fired by rebels or the country’s government remains unclear, though a spokesperson for Donetsk People’s Republic claimed, to Russian media, that it was by Ukrainian artillery.
The incident at Zasyadko mine, near the town of Donetsk, is the second of its kind, after 390 miners were trapped on January 12 when a blackout occurred. With more than 250 workers having died in the mine in the last 15 years, the mine has a deadly reputation.
Rebel-held Donetsk continues to be heavily shelled as the country’s government tries to regain control of the region.
[/tab] [tab title=”6 Pak”]Pakistan
In January at least six coal miners were killed and 15 injured when an explosion caused by gas accumulation occurred in a mine in Doli, Orakzai in Punjab, Pakistan.
The explosion was heard all over the Doli area. On site co-workers tried to pull injured and dead men from the debris. Three of the wounded workers were reportedly taken to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
Coal mine contractor Noor Hassan told The Express Tribute that the workers were employed by the Sherazi Coal Company. Shangla Coalmine Workers Union office bearer Amanullah Khan said a lot of the miners are young.
“Education facilities in Shangla are not satisfactory and most of the facilities send their children to work in coal mines. More than 300 labourers have died in various mining accidents in the last three years,” he said.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/822315/ occupational-hazard-six-miners-killed-inexplosion/
[/tab] [tab title=”7 Chi”]China
More than 60 per cent of patients presenting with lung disease caused by dust inhalation in China work in the coal mining industry, a report by the China Coal Miner Pneumoconiosis Prevention and Treatment Foundation found in early February.
The disease, formally known as ‘black lung’, has affected 720,000 workers nationwide; 440,000 of those are involved in mining. The country’s Ministry of Health said by the end of 2010, 22 per cent of the reported 677,000 cases at the time had died – compared to deaths caused by mining accidents, which have decreased each year for fifteen years, sitting at 1,067 in 2013.
Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Research Center of Labor Director Huang Leping said: “Many of the workers found the pneumoconiosis after they quit their jobs, adding more problems and difficulties for them to get the deserved compensation”.
Sources: english.eastday.com/auto/ eastday/nation/u1ai8475854.html
[/tab] [tab title=”8 Indo”]Indonesia
A 27-year-old construction worker died in late January when he was hit by a truck underground in Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg mining complex. Suardi Ilyas suffered an injury to his chest, according to Papua Police spokesperson Patrige Renwarin.
“His company (Panca Duta Karya Abadi) wanted to take him to Jakarta for further treatment, but his condition worsened and he passed away,” Mr Renwarin told Kompas.com.
In a separate incident, a truck driver was injured in the same mine when his vehicle hit a roadside barrier and overturned in the town of Tembagapura, built around the mine. Grasberg is one of the biggest copper and gold mines in the world. The last fatal accident at the mine occurred in September 2014, when a van four workers were traveling in was run over by a haul truck.
Source: thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/ news/worker-killed-freeport-indonesiamine- accident/
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