In a new final rule this week the Mine Safety and Health Administration is requiring underground coal mines to equip their continuous mining machines with proximity detectors that give a warning and shut down the equipment when a miner gets too close.
Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett says Matrix, an Alliance-owned company, has been working to develop its own technology. He says many Alliance mines, which make up a third of those in Kentucky, already have proximity detectors.
“It is anymore a fairly common sight, you know, along with the methane detectors,” he said. “When you’re underground you often see them now.”
Bissett says this requirement will raise the cost of mining, especially for those without the equipment. But he adds, “It’s another way that we can just further protect people as they’re working underground in close quarters with these large machines, which in many ways the machines themselves create a safer environment for the miner. It keeps them away from the actual mining process where we’re extracting coal and keeps them removed further often operating with a remote control device.”
Mine operators will have up to 36 months to retrofit their continuous mining machines and train employees to use them. The rule goes into the Federal Register Jan. 15 and becomes effective 60 days later.
