Mine Safety Engineering

Mine Accidents, Accident Analysis and Safety Management Mine Accidents: occupational hazards of mining; accidents in mines — different types and classification; accident investigation; accident proneness; basic causes of accident occurrence; place-wise and cause-wise analysis. Accident Statistics & Costs: frequency and severity rates of accidents; accident-data analysis and assessment; relation between accidents and efficiency; direct and indirect cost of accidents. Safety Management: creating and maintaining safety awareness; ZAP and MAP; job safety analysis; safety meetings and committees; management’s role and responsibility; introduction to risk-based safety and health management systems; safety management plan; measures for improving safety in mines.

Underground Hazards I — Mine Gases, Fires and Explosions Mine Gases: composition of the mine atmosphere; production, properties and physiological effects of mine gases; sampling and analysis of mine air; methane content and methane layering; methane drainage; flame safety lamp and methanometers; radon and its daughter products; continuous monitoring of gases. Mine Fires: causes and classification of mine fires; spontaneous combustion — mechanism, stages and susceptibility indices; factors affecting spontaneous heating; detection and prevention; dealing with mine fires by direct and indirect methods; fire stoppings and sealing-off; re-opening of sealed-off areas; fires in coal stacks and waste dumps. Mine Explosions: firedamp and coal-dust explosions — causes, mechanism and prevention; explosive limits; stone-dust and water barriers; explosions in opencast workings; investigation after an explosion.

Underground Hazards II — Dust, Inundation, Illumination and Occupational Health Airborne Dust: generation, dispersion, measurement and control of airborne respirable dust; sampling instruments and methods, duration and interval of sampling; prevention and suppression of dust; physiological effects of dust and dust-related diseases (pneumoconiosis, silicosis). Inundation: causes and prevention of inundation; precautions and techniques in approaching old workings; dewatering of waterlogged workings; safety boring apparatus and pattern of holes; design and construction of water dams. Illumination & Occupational Health: standards of illumination for underground and opencast workings; cap lamps; lamp-room layout and organisation; photometry and illumination survey; comfort conditions, first aid and ambulance; miners’ occupational diseases — causes, nature and preventive measures; preventive medical examinations and compensable diseases.

Risk Assessment and Safety-Engineering Techniques Risk Assessment: principles of risk assessment; hazard identification; risk and hazard control; risk and hazard evaluation; data collection for identified health risks; exposure assessment and risk characterisation; methods of risk assessment. Fault-Tree Analysis: introduction and methodology; symbols and Boolean techniques; qualitative analysis; computerised methods; statistical analysis and safety information; systems design. Reliability & Safety Audit: probabilistic risk analysis; reliability evaluation; human factors; safety culture; safety audit and its application to mine-safety problems.

Mine Legislation, Rescue, Recovery and Disaster Management Mine Legislation: the Mines Act, 1952; the Coal Mines Regulations, 2017; the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961; statutory controls and directions; spot and regular inspections; enforcement of standards and penalties for violations; role of the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS); safety campaigns and Safety Week. Rescue & Recovery: rescue equipment and its uses; classification of rescue apparatus; resuscitation; rescue stations and rescue rooms; organisation of rescue work; emergency preparedness and response systems; Mines Rescue Rules and Mines Vocational Training Rules. Disaster Management: identification of causes of mine disasters; preventive action; disaster management and mitigation; typical cases of mine disasters in India; recommendations of inquiry committees on safety and health issues.