THE MINES ACT, 1952

Examination for Mine Managers Certificate of Competency under the Coal Mines Regulation 1957 FIRST CLASS MINE MANAGEMENT, LEGISLATION & GENERAL SAFETY Sunday, The 14th December, 2008 Full Marks : 100 Time (Answer any six questions. All questions carry equal marks.) Q.1. In the present day context of large demand of coal, what are the recommendations of 10th conference for safety in mines with respect to: (a) Mechanization with a view to phase-out manual loading & to improve standards. (b)Reduction of risk from roof and side falls in coal mine. Ans. (a) Mechanization with a view to phase-out manual loading & to improve standards: Limited potential of opencast reserves coupled with environmental considerations, land acquisition issues and availability of better grade coal at depth forced mining industry to extract coal from deeper, horizons by underground methods. At these mining depths, the only course left for ensuring ever introduce intense mechanization compatible to the geo-mining requirements. Therefore, for the mining industry to gear up for such daunting situations ahead, it is imperative that the present and manual mining situation be totally phased out and a carefully designed mechanization era be introduced. With the introduction of appropriate face mechanization, accident in mines have shown positive downward trend due to reduced exposure/concentration of workmen at active coal faces. The gravity of the problem of continuing with the manual work at bulk production fronts would be too intense for the mining operators and therefore, calls for an immediate switchover in the production policy towards face mechanization and reducing conventional crowded work-force at the production fronts. Taking into consideration the above facts, 10th national conference on the safety in mines made the following recommendations: (i) Identification & introduction of an appropriate technology: Keeping in view the objectives of phasing out manual loading, all coal companies should identify appropriate technology suitable for the prevailing geo-mining conditions and : 3 Hours

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v) (vi) (vii)

introduce the same in phased manner to phase out manual loading operations completely within a period of next five years in coal seams with gradient of 1 to 5 or less and in 7 years in coal seams with gradient steeper than 1 to 5. Compatible back-up facilities : While formulating the strategies for face mechanization in underground workings, that is to be ensured that back-up facilities like coal excavation, support system, ventilation arrangements etc, are compatible with face mechanization. Scientific Investigation for mechanization: The scheme for face mechanization should be based on proper scientific investigation. The scheme should also include arrangements for monitoring strata behaviour and environmental conditions. Deployment of multi skilled miners: Possibility of deployment of multi skilled miners in the face shall be explored to reduce the exposure in hazardous area without affecting employment. Training: Suitable training for efficient and safe operation of machinery shall be imparted to all concerned. Long term sustainable technology: While preparing for face mechanization due consideration should be given for long term sustainability of the technology. Framing of policy documents: A policy document shall be framed be each coal mining company within 6 months to address implementations issues. It shall also be ensured that safety features are inbuilt into the system.

Ans. : (b) Reduction of risk from roof and side falls in coal mine : Owing to continuous efforts by mining companies, research institutions, academicians and DGMS, the accidents caused by fall of roof and fall of sides have shown a downward trend. Still fall of roof and fall of sides are the major causes of accidents in u/g coal mines. An in-depth study of roof and side fall accidents in coal mines during 1997-2006 by DGMS officials revealed the following: Fall of roof has been responsible for 42% of u/g accidents and fall of sides for 16%. There has been a downward trend. These figures falling to 30% and 9% respectively in 2006 In development workings, area of freshly exposed roof upto 10m from the faces continues to be critical.

In order to ensure safety in mines and also reduction in roof fall and side fall accidents in coal mines, 10th National Conference on Safety in Mines made the following recommendations: (i) Setting up strata control cell In every coal mining company, strata control cell shall be established at corporate and area levels within 1 year to assist mine managers in formulation of Systematic Support of Rules and for its

(ii)

(iii) (iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

implementation. Such cells shall be manned by adequate number of technical personnel headed by senior official not below the rank of Chief General Manager at Corporate level and Dy. Chief Mining Engineer at Area level. Roof bolting as primary support - Roof bolting shall be used as a primary means of support for freshly exposed roof in development as well as depillaring districts. For the roof category Poor having value RMR of 40 or less or where there is excessive seepage of water from the roof strata, roof bolts exclusively with resin capsules should be used to ensure adequate and immediate reinforcement of strata. Side supports Due emphasis should also be given to support the sides while framing Systematic Support Rules. No work below unsupported roof Suitable steps shall be taken by the mining companies to inculcate the culture of no work at face other than support work, till the roof is supported by roof bolts right upto 0.6m from the face. Use of suitable roof bolting machine To ensure proper drilling for roof bolting in all types of roof strata, suitable, fit for use roof bolting machines should be introduced in all mines within a period of one year. Such machines should be capable of being operated from a distance or be provided with suitable canopy to protect the drillers/roof bolters during drilling or bolting operations. Risk assessment Risk assessment shall be carried out for assessing the risk from hazards of roof and side falls and for identifying control mechanisms with specific responsibility for implementation. This exercise shall be reviewed at regular intervals not exceeding one year. Structured training Each company shall take steps to inpart structured training to officers, supervisors and support personnel on roof bolting.

Q.2. What are the various problems of safety when a part of the work in an opencast mine is outsourced? How will you ensure enforcement of Mines Act, Rules and regulations by the workers of the hired contractor? Ans. There is an increasing trend of contractual work in coal and non-coal mines in India in recent years. This is due to need of introduction of modern mining, access to specialized of strong national and international competition, especially in view of entry of private entrepreneurs and multinational companies. Mining industry, particularly the coal mining industry has recent times been open to the private entrepreneurs and many Multinational Companies are also entering into the Indian mining Industry for extraction of minerals. Out sourcing of certain operations and equipment is also becoming quite common in the large public sector or Pvt. Mines. But this is also adding some new dimension to health and safety aspects of mining industry.

Various problems of safety when a part of the work in an open cast mine outsourced: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) (xiii) In many cases, the existing mine management structure is not suitable and effective to control the interfaces with the contractors. Big contractors awards parts of the job to petty contractors not having adequate capacity or concern for safety. Employees are purely temporary or migratory in nature and not conversant with mining activities or laws. Employees are not given required training. Contractors workers have more risk taking attitude as their earning is directly connected with output. Workers are put to extended hours of work and equipment used in many cases is not fit for the purpose. There are hardly any medical surveillance and welfare amenities for workers. Contractors consider safety as a cost component only ignoring work conditions. Deployment of in-experienced, unskilled and ill health persons because of their cheap availability. Contractors having hiring and firing policy causing influx of unskilled persons. ill maintenance of machines. Over loading of truck & dumpers. Unauthorized driving and unauthorised riding

Ensuring enforcement of Mines Act, Rules and Regulations by the workers of hired contractor: For ensuring enforcement of statutory provision by the workers of the hired contractors, the code of practice for safety of contractor workers and machinery shall be made by the mine management for the adoption in contractual operations. The code of practice shall be as follows: (A) Code of Practice for adoption in contractual operations :

SL. No. 1.

ITEM

PRACTICE TO BE FOLLOWED

Training: All contractors workers engaged on surface & OC mines to be trained.

(i)Before commencement of work against work order contractor shall give to the manager a list of his workers/supervisor to be trained as VTI Rules and new VT module. (ii)Person required to be trained, shall be sent for training by manager. (iii)A list of trained workers already available with the contractors shall be furnished to be

2.

Record in B Form

3.

Supervision

4.

Issue of Identity Cards

5.

Attendance/Working hours/Rest day

6.

Rest Shelters

7.

Safety Appliances

8.

Fitness Certificate and road worthless of vehicle.

Manager. Manager shall ensure that records of contractors workers are maintained in FormB as per stature. Statutory supervision of contractual operation by departmental competent persons to be ensured by Manager/Project Officer. (i)Contractors shall issue identity card to all workers under him. (ii)Contractor shall be bound not to employee any persons whom the Manager/Agent has reason to believe that the persons action are unsafe to the mining operations or who contravenes the provisions of Mines Act, Rules and Regulation framed there under. Manager to ensure: (i)Attendance of contractors workers shall be recorded in the Form-D/E as per Mines Rules. (ii)Working time on every day shall be limited to 8 hours spread over to a maximum of 12 hours working shift. Weekly days of rest shall be ensured. Contractors shall arrange for rest shelter with drinking water facility to be provided near the place of work failure which the Manager shall do the same. Manager shall ensure that all contractors workers are provided with helmet, shoes & other safety gadgets. In case of non-provision, the safety guards shall be provided by him and the amount spent on the guards deducted from the contractors bill. Contractor shall ensure the use of helmets and shoes by his workers. (i)Before the start of transportation, the contractor shall submit a list of vehicle/machines to be deployed at the mines to the Manager/Project officer(Agent) (ii)Fitness of all the vehicle/machines including AVA shall be checked under the supervision of colliery Engineer. (iii)Fitness Certificate of all the vehicles shall be checked by the colliery Engineer and proper records shall be maintained and in case of O/C with more than 5000 tpd coal transport a separate engineer with Foreman and mechanic having automobile engineering background to be posted for checking the

9.

Unauthorized, driving/riding

vehicle. (iv)After the checking of the vehicle and fitness certificates, the Engineer shall recommend for the issue of valid pass for vehicle/machines to the Manager/Project Officer (Agent). (v)No contractors vehicle/machines shall be allowed inside mine premises without valid pass issued by Manager/Project Officer (Agent) of the colliery. (vi)A qualified engineer to have overall responsibility for daily/weekly checking and maintenance of contractors vehicle. Contractors shall authorize his engineer/foreman or mechanic as competent persons for daily/weekly checking and maintenance of vehicle/machines. Manager/colliery engineer shall confirm the competency of such authorized person and ensure that the daily/weekly checking of vehicles is as per standards. (vii)Random check shall be made by Engineer/Safety Officer as regards fitness certificates, brakes, Lights, horms, AVAs etc. (viii)If any vehicle is found defective, the same shall not be allowed inside the mine, unless the defect has been rectified and vehicle certified to be fit by the Colliery Engineer in writing. (ix)The Time of incoming and outgoing of contractors vehicles in the command area should be recorded in a register at the check post. (x)Fail safe brake should be used in tippler. (i)Contractors shall submit the list of drivers (whose antecedents he believes are good) along-with their valid licenses for verification and record by Engineer and issue of authorization by Manager/PO(Agent). No such drivers should be allowed without verification of license/authorization. (ii)No helper/ any unauthorized person shall be allowed to travel in tipping trucks. Trained trip man/helper shall be provided at the loading and unloading point and for the miscellaneous jobs at key positions. Unauthorized person travelling liable to

10.

Loading areas, Face supervisor : Under manager/overman/mining sirdar

11.

Roads/Transport

punishment. (iii)Manager shall take all appropriate steps including his authority of punishment to ensure prohibition of un-authorized driving as well as unauthorized riding. They shall ensure that: (i) Pay loader operation zones and the parking sites tippers for loading and waiting are well defined and marked to avoid unnecessary movement/reversal of vehicles and payloaders at the face and also for unauthorized parking. (ii) No authorized person shall be allowed in payloaders operation zone and tippers loading/waiting zone while loading and transportation are being carried on at the face. (iii) Safe distance shall be determined and maintained. a) Between payloader and tipper stationed for loading. b) Between two tippers on movement. c) From the toe of the benches. d) Fron the edge of the benches. (i) A parking area for contractor vehicles/machines shall be fixed by colliery engineer in consultation with agent of the mine. (ii) The number of vehicles allowed to enter the mine premises at a time should be fixed by the Agent/Manager of the mine. (iii) The rest shelter for driver/operator should be made outside the barrier. (iv) Manager shall ensure that all provision of the condition for the use of HEMM issued by DGMS are complied. (v) One way traffic should be adopted for movement of vehicle. (vi) Separate roads/lanes of HEMM and contractors truck and pedestrian shall be provided. (vii) Ramps and curves of the haul roads shall have adequate curvature and super elevation design in accordance with the speed and height of vehicle flying on them. (viii) Escape lane or escape road shall be provide where there are chances of over

12.

Dumping Place

13.

Parking

14.

Surface Electrical Jobs

speeding or roll back of vehicles in motion. (ix) Code of traffic rules, dumping practices, signalling and communication shall be framed implemented. (i) Sufficient dumping place shall be ensured by the Manager to avoid over crowding. (ii) Sufficient level space shall be provided on ramps close to unloading, reversing and authorized parking. (iii) Dumping and manual loading shall not be allowed at the same place. (i) No vehicle shall be parked on slope/gradient. If it is unavoidable, hand brake shall be applied firmly, engine stopped, vehicle kept in gear and stop blocks against the wheels used. (ii) The Engineer shall ensure that adequate numbers of stop blocks are always kept in the vehicle.In addition, he will also ensure that tow start vehicles are not allowed on the road. (iii) Adequate level parking place should be created near loading point, CHP/Feeder breaker/weigh Bridge, dumping place etc for incoming tippers. (i) Jobs shall be done under the supervision of Engineers/Supervisors. (ii) The Engineer/Supervisors shall ensure that proper shutdown procedures for working on live lines are followed. (iii) Code of Safe Practices shall be framed by colliery Engineer for implementation on such jobs.

Q.3. What is workers participation in safety management? How can this help attain high safety standards? Suggest some deterrents for habitual unsafe workers. Q.4. Enumerate various types of instruments (along with the objective principle and functioning of each) which are used for monitoring ground movement in a deep underground mine. Ans.: Monitoring of the ground movement and stress build up around the excavation through systematic instrumentation helps to evacuate the stability of the openings. Instrumentation can help in design verification. With suitable instrumentation programme,

one can work with a safety factor near unity. Under such conditions, monitoring would provide warning of potential problems for advance action. The essential features of instrumentation are: a) Proper layout- Location of instrument, type and number are determined in advance according to the requirement of the project. b) Accuracy- A good instrumentation programme should have reliable instruments with the required accuracy. c) Recording- Frequency and duration of the monitoring screen should be strictly followed as decided during the layout stage. Monitoring Ground Movement- Excavation of underground openings results in movement of the roof and the wall rocks. Ground movement monitoring would provide useful information to evaluate the stability of these openings. Various Types of Instrument Used for Monitoring Ground movement in a deep underground mine : 1. Closure meter or convergence recorder Objective : To measure the relative ground movements, between two exposed rock surfaces of an excavation, usually the opposite ones, like roof and floor, hang wall and foot wall etc. If one of the two reference surfaces is free from any movement, closure measurements give the absolute movement of the other surface. Principle : Working principle of closure meter are as follows Mechanical Closure Meters- Works on mechanical including hydraulic principle and have the advantage of robust construction and simplicity of design. Electrical Closure Meters- It works on electrical and electronics principles and have the advantage of versatility and flexibility and are easily adopted for continuous and automatic monitoring and recording and remote control. Seismic Closure Meters- It works on the principle of seismology and are very sensitive and accurate and helps in certain measurement which are otherwise impossible. Functioning : Telescopic closure meter are convergence recorder is a very simple instrument consisting of a graduated rod(with least count of 0.5-1mm) fitted in pipe for telescopic movements over a length of 2 to 4 m. The measuring points are metal rods grouted in the rocks at the desired locations. Measurements are taken by simply stretching the telescopic rod between the reference points and reading the graduation on the rod. To measure closure at in accessible locations, electrical closure meter can be used. In this Instrument a rheostat is fixed to the telescopic portion of the rod and a pointer is attached to the pipe in which the telescopic rod moves over a high tension spring. The

instrument is permanently fixed between the reference points and measurement can be taken from a distance. 2. Borehole Extensometers Extensometers are one of the principal instruments used to measure rock deformation. Objective : To directly measure/monitor relative or absolute movements in un exposed rock mass as well as bed separation. a) Tape Extensometer- To measure changes in distance between two reference points in any direction. b) Multipoint Borehole Extensometer- To measure relative displacement of borehole anchors which are fixed to rock mass units along the axis of the drill hole. c) Sonic Multiple point Extensometer- To monitor horizontal pillar expansion and the growth of yield zone in a chain pillars. d) Wire Extensometer- To measure axial displacement between a numbers of reference points on the same measurement axis. Principle : Depending on the type of instruments, Extensometer works on mechanical, magnetic and electromagnetic system, seismic and micro seismic principle as explained earlier. Functioning : Tape extensometer can be used to measure closure between points upto 30m apart with accuracy of 0.05-2m. It is made of precision invar steel measuring tape with punched holes. For taking the readings, the free end of the steel tape is hooked to the remote reference point and the instrument is hooked to the nearest point the steel tape is pulled taut and tension applied to the tape. The dial gauge reading after tensioning indicates the reading for the site. Sonic Multiple Point Extensometer consist of a 7.6m long probe which is inserted a guide tube located along the borehole axis passing through all 20 or so snap-ring borehole anchors. A magnet is located within each anchor. The position of each magnet relative to either head of the extensometer or to a neighbouring anchor is measured and displayed directly on the read out in it. Wire Extensometer are also called tell-tale extensometers which give a visual wearing of rock deformation through movement of an indicator, anchored in a small diameter borehole. It is now possible to integrate about 400tell-tales into a mine wide monitoring system with the use of computer plus software development. The standard display provides information on the current reading and resent history of all the connected telltales. Individual warning and action level can be set for each tell-tale. 3. Stress meters, earth pressure cells and micro seismic geophones 4. Strain gauged roof bolt

5. Australian New Zealand inflatable cells. 6. Loads cell/Dynometers.