The mine manager’s guide to underground emergency response : TUC-lectures on mine rescue, fire and explosion protection

This textbook is a contribution to the literature on mine rescue, targeting specific aspects of fire and explosion protection, rescue operations, and self-rescue in deep underground mines, in particular deep collieries. Here, methane production and spontaneous combustion of coal, as well as the explosion hazard linked to both, take center stage amongst the mine safety challenges. Furthermore, the work of the mine rescue brigade is frequently characterized here by a significant climatic load, which requires a special physical fitness of miners and rescuers, a corresponding physiological knowledge base, and safety rules derived therefrom. Generally, however, importance must be placed today on supporting an effective self-rescue and escape of the workforce on its own in case of an event, and on the related implementation of the necessary boundary conditions in terms of fire and explosion protection. The book is based on the lectures held by the author at Clausthal University of Technology (TUC), Germany, since 2009. It reveals the previous decades of underground emergency response in German collieries from the point of view of academic training of future executives and staff and is also intended as a guidebook for planning and mine rescue operation. Tables summarize individual contexts and topics for quick reference, and a detailed outline facilitates retrieving information. Lists of the basic technical literature of German mine rescue centers and mine research institutes as well as relevant technical rules of German mining authorities (mostly in German language) complete the book.