The Parliamentary Investigation Commission, which was established to investigate the mining accident in which 42 workers lost their lives in Bartın Amasra, has completed its report. “The most important reason for the accident is the failure to manage the presence of methane gas, which creates an explosive atmosphere, and the factors that trigger the explosion,” it said in the report, which includes remarkable details.
Release:
The Parliamentary Research Commission completed its work on the disaster in which 42 workers lost their lives in the Amasra Enterprise Directorate of the Turkish Hard Coal Institution in 4 months. The 366-page report prepared by the commission members, who also examined the mine where the accident occurred, included omissions, determinations and suggestions regarding the disaster. The report included the following determinations regarding the causes of the accident:
* “The methane gas, which was created by the underground conditions and existed during the coalification degree of the coal; The structure of the coal, the formation of an explosive atmosphere in the furnace air by being released into the furnace air in the s and cavities formed during production, in order to prevent this environment from forming, methane drainage before production or during production, determination of methane content with control soundings, continuous instant gas measurement It is necessary to measure the methane concentration in the environment with an effective ventilation project and application, to prevent the formation of an explosive atmosphere and to keep the methane below the lower explosion limit value.
* The most important reason for the accident is the presence of methane gas that creates the explosive atmosphere and the factors that trigger the explosion cannot be managed with these measures. When the methane measurement values are examined on 14.10.2022, when the explosion occurred, it is seen that the ventilation project implemented was not sufficient to keep the methane below the explosion lower limits.
“INSUFFICIENCY IN SECONDARY VENTILATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON”
In the report, the most important reason for the accident to occur is the inadequacy of the secondary ventilation, which is more important than the deficiency in the main ventilation, and it was stated as follows:
* “The reason why the coal dust explosion and the intensity of the explosion, which is thought to have occurred repeatedly with the trigger of the methane explosion, affected the quarry in a wide area in the horizontal and vertical directions, is the inability to successfully combat dust and the insufficient and incorrect positioning of the water/dust dams.
* The fact that the blast excavation activities carried out during production and preparation do not comply with the conditions specified in the legislation and the absence of an effective inspection and control mechanism that controls and supervises them has put the environment safety at risk.
* Due to the lack of personnel at the time of the accident, the fact that only one operator was working in the central gas monitoring room, and the central gas monitoring system was not integrated with the voice alarm system, weakened the underground communication network and caused disruptions in the information flow.
“PENAL SANCTIONS MUST BE INCREASED”
In the report, 120-item recommendations were presented to prevent such accidents from happening again. In particular, the following statements were used, drawing attention to the need for legal regulations and the issue of basin mining:
* “The deterrence of administrative sanctions applied to those who have negligence and responsibility regarding the criminal sanctions applied to those who have negligence and fault in occupational accidents and the deficiencies that endanger the occupational health and safety during the inspection in the labor inspections should be increased. Legal arrangements should be made to imprison those who operate mines that are found to be operated without a license and that are closed, and that these people are banned from mining activities for life.
* Mining legislation should be reviewed and a separate legislative arrangement should be made for all activities related to coal mining. In order to establish an occupational health and safety management system in mines, to improve the occupational safety climate and to make it sustainable, an independent national mine occupational health and safety institution should be established at international standards, which will ensure that mining activities are gathered under a single umbrella organization.
* Mining sites should be divided into licenses on the largest possible scale according to faults and other irregularities, taking into account their structural geology, and in this way, the loss of reserves should be minimized and the areas should be operated with safe projects. In other words; In order to extract our country’s underground resources in a sustainable way, basin mining should be prioritized.
“VENTILATION LEGISLATION MUST BE PREPARED”
It was emphasized that a separate ventilation legislation should be prepared for gas stoves. The report said:
* “Ventilation projects should be prepared by taking into account the special conditions of each quarry, updated depending on the changes in quarry activity, and approved by the relevant institutions/organizations and put into practice. The use of polluted air in one production panel and containing gases at different rates as inlet air in another production panel causes a risky environment for both the health of the employees and the flammable gases reaching alarm levels. Especially in case of sudden gas discharge, this series of ventilation can cause very serious problems.
* A regulation that allows independent ventilation of each production panel and prohibits serial ventilation should be implemented in underground mining enterprises. It is necessary to establish procedures for monitoring air doors and recording monitoring data. Sufficient number of qualified personnel should be igned for the inspection of the ventilation system and air measurement and analysis, and it should be ensured that these inspections, measurements and analyzes are carried out regularly. At least one of the personnel to be igned must be a mining engineer with experience in underground mining for 5 years or more.”
“CAMERA SHOULD BE PLACED ON JANUARY ENTRANCES”
The report stated that liaison procedures with central gas monitoring should be improved, and the following statements were used:
* “It is also required that the radio records of the igniter and central gas monitoring contacts in the underground mining workplaces where radio is used can be recorded. Mines should have an early warning system integrated with the central gas monitoring system. It should be obligatory to keep at least 3 years of data of central gas monitoring sensors digitally stored.
* Selection, installation, placement, commissioning, operation of mechanical and electrical equipment used in underground coal mine workplaces, characteristics of electrical cables, how to make electrical cable splices, and how to install, inspect, repair, maintain and test electrical and mechanical equipment. Detailed standards and guidelines on who will do it should be updated.
* It is necessary to ensure that the locations of fixed and portable devices used underground are matched with the personnel tracking system. In order to provide more effective control of the entrance and exit to the furnace, camera systems should be installed at the furnace entrances. Limit values should also be determined according to the working areas in various parts of the quarry.
“THE EMPLOYEE DEPENDENCE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY EXPERTS MUST BE REMOVED”
It was noted that a platform should be created that ensures that all January plans are kept up-to-date by digitizing and shared with authorized institutions, and the following statements were used:
* “Before firings, gas measurement must be done with double measurement together with the igniter and supervisor. By re-evaluating the provision in the legislation that the ventilation system should be reversible, it would be appropriate to determine the bidirectional ventilation exclusively in accordance with the structure of the furnace and the ventilation project, not as a general principle.
* The practice of mining workplaces receiving occupational health and safety services from joint health and safety units should be stopped; It should be mandatory for each mining workplace to have its own occupational health and safety department and competent and sufficient staff. The personal rights of occupational safety experts should be rearranged in a way to eliminate their financial dependence on the employers they supervise.
“TRAINING TIMES MUST BE INCREASED”
It was also stated that the duration of the annual 16-hour compulsory occupational health and safety trainings given in mining workplaces should be increased and said, “The trainings in question should not be given to fulfill the provisions of the legislation, but to establish the occupational health and safety culture of the mine workers with the principle of continuous improvement. Labor inspector staff of Ministry of Labor and Social Security Guidance and Inspection Presidency should be strengthened with graduates of related engineering departments, especially mining engineering. It should be regulated that in workplaces for which the decision to stop the work is applied, which authorities will control whether the production activities continue without eliminating the deficiencies in occupational health and safety that constitute the basis of the decision. (DHA)