It will be a long time before we know all of the details surrounding the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, that is now known as the worst coal mining accident in 25 years.
The Massey Energy Company, owner of the mine where the Monday explosion killed 25 miners, now must answer questions about the safety precautions that were or were not in place. As the speculation and accusations pepper the news reports, I keep trying to put myself in the shoes of the family members who are grieving, some of whom are still awaiting word on four people who remain missing in the mine.
The reports that I’ve read indicate that it is unlikely anyone would have survived the blast. But if anyone did there are said to be airtight chambers in the mine with food, water, and oxygen that could sustain an individual for a number of days until help arrived.
As I listen to the news reports, my mind keeps flashing back to an article I wrote a year ago on MeshDynamics, which introduced a bundled hardware and software mesh networking solution meant for use in hard-to-reach places, such as coal mines. The MeshDynamics nodes can maintain voice-over-IP communication at the edges of a network, which is also coupled with Wi-Fi location tracking applications.
The motivation behind the development of this product was the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006, put in place after the coal mine explosion in Sago, WV, in January of that year. The MINER Act requires wireless two-way communications between underground and surface personnel to determine the location of anyone trapped in the mine. The act stated that mines should be equipped with such technology by 2009. Perhaps that’s another issue that should be raised as officials continue their investigation of this latest tragedy.
Eerily, in an article appearing in the The Charleston Gazette just two weeks before the mining accident, Joe Main, assistant labor secretary for mine safety, noted that more needed to be done to install new communications and tracking gear that could help miners escape a fire or explosion. The article goes on to say that fewer than one in 10 underground mines across the country has met the requirements of the MINER Act. And, according to Main, that’s because the two-way wireless communications just doesn’t exist. He said we need to ‘lean’ on manufacturers and vendors to speed up production of such systems.
Perhaps we do. But, we also need to put some pressure on the industry to get serious about safety as a business strategy.
I write often about wireless technology as it relates to the mobile enterprise, including issues such as how we can make our field service or sales force more productive and how things like RFID can mitigate risk in the supply chain. It really is time that we started focusing our attention on leveraging this technology to improve safety in dangerous environments, too — be it a chemical plant, an oil refinery, or a coal mine.
Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the blast, we can only hope and pray for some answers — and that this doesn’t happen again.
7 Comments
About the Robotics entrepreneur did you mean Paul Deuchar? He’s very famous over here and especially in the industrial sector, if you plan business with him don’t hesitate you found the right man
I’ve heard of a entrepreneur: Paul Deuchar from the robotics sector in WA, he’s been working in tech sector and my client wants to put US$1m on the table to try him, any thing I should be aware of with him?
Until now, mining and other industrial operations have been under-automated, yet they have sprouted multiple, isolated systems, or “islands of automation”- much like those made by the companies noted in the above article and comments. A wireless “network” has the potential to make these industries amongst the most advanced operations in the world, both in terms of output and safety.
Truth is, that mining operators have always focused on increasing their profitability first and foremost, some, sadly, at the expense of miner safety. Mining operations around the globe must now turn to wireless technology to help alleviate operational and financial issues and provide real-time solutions that help identify and stop problems before they cause costly operational shutdowns, delays and more deaths to miners. As Legacy systems purchased years ago are a barrier to integration of newer, more advanced applications, mining companies must look to wireless to extend their reach.
For those mining companies opting to upgrade hard-wired / leaky-feeder legacy systems with next-generation wireless networking solutions and applications, one company not mentioned in the article is Wireless Sensor Networks Inc. (WSN) – a Canadian company with next-generation, wireless mesh network solutions that provide a powerful, seamless, scalable network that can serve almost any industry. Their network capabilities will be able to access real-time data from underground mobile equipment where data can be transmitted wirelessly through the network to surface, while also facilitating predictive maintenance and governmental/environmental compliance.
exactly right – the technology exists and is installed and working in several mines. It is supplied by Active Control Technologies. The problem is that the MSHA is not forcing mines to comply with the mandated systems and Joe Main who is the new head of the MSHA seems to be ignorant of the latest technologies. What a sad state of affairs.
If you are looking for state of the art software to go with wireless technology check out a product called NEXSYS here in Australia. It is a real time risk management system that is making working underground as safe, if not safer than work in a lot of surface based industries. Combining products like these will improve the underground coal mining industry dramatically. Check it out.
It is known that this technology exists, however sometimes the vendor doesn’t support what is said in the negotiations table, and as far a i know this is the case of the “Active” company wich is having a lot of problems to comply with the promised performance of its equipment on a underground coal mine. please ask for references before buy such an important equipment…. cheers!
hmmm i dont know how they make the comment “the wireless technology doesnt exist” you mention mesh dynamics with thier wireless nodes…..just so you know the 100% wireless solution indeed does exist, is built by a company called Active Control in Burlington Ontario, is 100% wireless, uses mesh dynamics nodes, and is MSHA certified…..maybe you should write a piece on these guys and ask the industry again if a 100% wireless solution exists…..it exists, its proven, and i dont understand why its only installed in only five mines so far……check it out….cheers!