Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao, Minister of State for Coal informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the fatality rate in terms of number of fatalities per million tonnes of coal production has come down from 6.66 in 1975 to 1.32 in 1985, 0.80 in 1995, and 0.32 in 2006.  He added that the details of fatal accidents in coal mines of both public and private sector in the country as furnished by the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Ministry of Labour & Employment during in the last three years and the current year are given in the table below:

            The Minister also said that the main reasons for the accidents are fall of roof and sides, accidents in rope haulage and conveyor system, fall of persons/objects, inundation, gas explosion etc. in underground mines and accidents in operation of dumpers and other machinery in opencast mines. The loss of property in case of accidents in coal mines is not being quantified separately since the equipment cost involved is insignificant in nature and mostly the equipment are depreciated.

            He further said that the management of the colliery is responsible for strict compliance of the prescribed safety standards in mines. While the coal companies take all care in observing safety legislation, they have also a stringent safety monitoring mechanism at corporate and local levels mainly through Internal Safety Organisations. The Workmen  Inspectors are also deployed in each mine as per the statutory requirement and periodic reviews are held at colliery level, area level and corporate level involving workers representatives and management. Over and above, the regulatory authority the Directorate General of Mines Safety regularly undertakes safety inspection of the mines to enforce compliance of safety legislation. At national level the safety aspects of coal mines in the country are reviewed periodically by the Standing Committee on Safety in Coal Mines under the Chairmanship of Minister of Coal. Government gives highest priority for safety of coal mines and miners.

In addition to compliance with the requirements of mine safety laws, Dr. Rao informed that Coal companies are taking the following measures to reduce number of accidents:

·         Scientific roof support systems based on rock-mass-rating

·         Increased use of steel supports and roof bolts in place of timber supports

·         Avoiding exposure of workers to hazardous conditions by mechanisation of loading operations in underground mines through deployment of side discharge loaders (SDLs) and load haul dumpers (LHDs) etc. and replacing rope haulages with conveyor belts wherever feasible

·         Introduction of continuous miner technology and long wall technology in underground mines where ever feasible

·         Regular monitoring of mine environment for detecting inflammable and noxious gases using modern equipments like digital Multi-Gas Detectors etc.

·         Before every monsoon preventive measures against inundation are implemented through:

§         Strengthening pumping arrangements

§         Emergency plan for keeping vigil on situations 

§         Check co-relation survey to establish the barriers between waterlogged workings wherever danger of inundation exists

§         Filling up the surface cracks

·         Implementation of Code of Practices for Heavy Earth Moving Machinery operators, maintenance staff & others

·         Thrust on training & retraining of supervisors and workmen including contractor’s   workers to increase safety awareness

·         Workers participation in safety management

·         Regular safety audit of mines and risk assessment

·         Safety monitoring through multi-disciplinary Internal Safety Organisation (ISO)

­­­

RCJ/ls