Question regarding Mine Safety

[jjaycee98]

If a chip can be planted in a child's tooth to enable them to be found. If an activator can be planted in a hole to show geological foumations under ground. If a chip in your car can tell them exactly where on the planet your car is. If a beacon on an airplane can show rescuers where it went down, why does the Mining Industry not have something to show where their workers are when they are on the job?

 

[lone wolf]

Might work - if the signal can peep its way through several hundred feet of rock.

Wolf

 

[karrie]

Hmm. The last I heard, children can have identifying chips implanted, but nothing that will send a locating signal. Cars have locators, but they are hooked to batteries which allow them to transmit their location.

There are a few reasons I can think of why mine companies don't keep locators on their men. 1 being the ability to transmit through that much earth. 2 being the fact that miners are typically supposed to be working in designated areas, a much cheaper way of keeping track of their whereabouts. 3 being that there are health concerns (mainly cancer) with wearing transmitters on a regular basis, especially high strength transmitters.

Now, none of this is to say they shouldn't use them. Perhaps it's something that ought to be raised with WCB. Nobody can work out the health risks, benefits, and costs faster than WCB. lol.

 

[jjaycee98]

Might work - if the signal can peep its way through several hundred feet of rock.

Wolf

Well, It is done all the time. Seismic workers drill holes all over the North Country and drop a transmitter which sends sound waves that are converted to readings that reflect geological density in the ground. Seems that a Team Leader could carry something that would give location in case of a cave in. Don't know but just seems there has to be something.

 

[hermanntrude]

Hmm. The last I heard, children can have identifying chips implanted, but nothing that will send a locating signal. Cars have locators, but they are hooked to batteries which allow them to transmit their location.

There are a few reasons I can think of why mine companies don't keep locators on their men. 1 being the ability to transmit through that much earth. 2 being the fact that miners are typically supposed to be working in designated areas, a much cheaper way of keeping track of their whereabouts. 3 being that there are health concerns (mainly cancer) with wearing transmitters on a regular basis, especially high strength transmitters.

Now, none of this is to say they shouldn't use them. Perhaps it's something that ought to be raised with WCB. Nobody can work out the health risks, benefits, and costs faster than WCB. lol.

4) it's too expensive. Corporations value human lives at just under the cost of a PC

 

[DurkaDurka]

All the location technologies you mentioned above rely on GPS in one way or another, which require the receivers/transmitters to communicate with multiple satellites in order to determine their position... not going to work underground.

 

[lone wolf]

Well, It is done all the time. Seismic workers drill holes all over the North Country and drop a transmitter which sends sound waves that are converted to readings that reflect geological density in the ground. Seems that a Team Leader could carry something that would give location in case of a cave in. Don't know but just seems there has to be something.

Does it transmit sound or radiation like a nuclear densometer? Seems to me a miner's pick or hammer would get the same result.

Wolf

 

[karrie]

4) it's too expensive. Corporations value human lives at just under the cost of a PC

Ha! Talk to my hubby about how a corporation values a human life. One life lost is a HUGE blow to almost any corporation. One finger lost even, and a company is in big trouble. Massive money is spent on prevention of even the most minor accidents. Especially here in Canada, where WCB assesses the rates a company must pay according to their safety record. One dead man can cause massive financial hardship.

Corporations may not value human happiness, or human input... but boyo, they do indeed value human life.

This is a large part of why I'm quite sure that if there was an adequate transmitter, it would be in use. And if it's not, money probably isn't the biggest issue.

 

[hermanntrude]

maybe it's just me that's under-valued

 

[karrie]

maybe it's just me that's under-valued

I valued you... once upon a time... before you broke my heart.

 

[hermanntrude]

awwww

I didn't mean any of it. I was just putting on a show for the other readers

 

[Niflmir]

I suppose they could do it if they were willing to invest a lot of money running wire down every tunnel with a radio detector every few hundred meters. I suppose it could be reused in new mines, so that would cut costs to maintenance after the initial investment, but it is still an enormous investment for a hole in the ground.

 

[karrie]

awwww

I didn't mean any of it. I was just putting on a show for the other readers

hmph.

 

[karrie]

I suppose they could... but it is still an enormous investment for a hole in the ground.

Especially when you consider that each crew is supposed to be marked as to where they're working that day anyhow. I don't know that radio technology could tell where the miners are much better than is already known in most cave-ins. The trouble doesn't seem to be finding them, so much as getting to them in time.

 

[hermanntrude]

maybe they should always sing. then you can tell where your neighbours are by the sound of their singing