Mining Feature: Rapid Rescue Drilling Equipment Transferred to National Mine Health and Safety Academy
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
To ensure that rescue holes can be drilled rapidly in an emergency at an underground mine, OMSHR recently transferred specialized equipment to the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, WV. The equipment transferred was a 12-inch-diameter bit for drilling an initial pilot hole, a 28-inch-diameter bit able to drill a hole large enough for a rescue capsule, and 200 feet of can-rods necessary for drilling such a large hole through the earth.
This specially fabricated equipment, developed under a contract awarded by OMSHR, will now remain at the Academy and will undergo yearly maintenance by the contracted equipment manufacturer. This new location and yearly maintenance will ensure that the equipment will be ready as needed if an emergency arises where a large-diameter borehole must be drilled, as was the case for the successful rescue operations at both the Quecreek and San Jose Mines. In such an emergency when a rescue borehole is needed, the equipment could be deployed by MSHA immediately after an accident is reported through MSHA’s 800 number established for accident reporting.
See Also
- Development and Demonstration of a Robotic Support Vehicle for Underground Mine Rescue Efforts
- Development and Testing of a Mine Escape Vehicle (MEV)
- Efficiency Improvement Study of Mine Rescue Breathing Apparatus and Development of an Improved Prototype CCBA
- Mine Rescue and Response
- Mine Rescue Training Simulations and Technology
- Mobile Adaptable RF/IT Infrastructure - Experimental (MATRIX)
- New Equipment and Protocol for Drilling Large-Diameter Rescue Boreholes
- New Vest Style Escape SCSR Through SCSR Efficiency Improvement Study
- Rapid Response Rescue Drilling System Development for Mine Rescue Application
- Rescue Technologies and Training
- Seismic Detection of Trapped Miners Using In-Mine Geophones
- Page last reviewed: 10/22/2016
- Page last updated: 6/16/2015
- Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program