South Eastern Coalfields Limited

Safety – Our Priority

Safety is of utmost concern There is Internal Safety Organization operating at different level to promote safety awareness Roof bolting with 100 % resin capsules has been introduced in all underground mines of SECL Apart from vocational training, employees are periodically trained through training center In house strata control instrumentation and monitoring is being done In addition to this, determination of Rock Mass Rating is being done at in house laboratory.

Mission of the Company on Safety

The Company believes that good safety performance is an integral part of efficient & profitable business management and is fully committed to total safety in all aspects of its operations. The company religiously follows the dictum that safety of persons overrides all production targets.

The Company attaches prime importance to safety of the employees which will not be compromised for any other considerations.

Internal Safety Organization

ISO, SECL has 3-tier organization under the administrative control of Director (Tech) Operation with the overall control of Chairman-cum-Managing Director. At Corporate level it is headed by GM (Safety & Rescue) and at Area by Area Safety Officer.
Functions of Internal Safety Organization (ISO) as approved by CIL Board in 67th Meet held on 23.05.1985 are:

The head of the Internal Safety Organization of the Subsidiaries Companies will report to CMD or one of the Technical Directors, as is being done now. The Internal Safety Organization in Subsidiaries Companies will be multi – disciplinary to the extent possible The ISO will be responsible for scrutinizing plans and schemes of every mine at least once a year to identify dangers which may cause disasters like inundation, gas and dust explosions and wide-scale roof collapse. Remedial actions will be suggested by ISO and steps will be taken for implementation of those suggestion. The ISO will maintain the necessary records for the purpose Each mine shall be subjected to at least one inspection every three months independently by an officer of ISO. During such inspections if immediate danger is apprehended, the officer of ISO shall bring such situation to the notice of Project Officer and the concerned General Manager for deciding the remedial action to be taken. A report of this should be made personally to General Manager (Safety) and the concerned Director (T) indicating remedial action being taken.

In case the officer of ISO finds the action taken by the Colliery Management inadequate or assesses the situation to be grave, he must report to General Manager (Safety) and Director for taking necessary steps which may include closure of the concerned district or stoppage of some operations. The Director may appoint immediately a group of executives (at least 2 in number) whose members may be drawn from the Area Office and the ISO and Head Office. This group will verify the conditions at the mine and based on the report of this group, the Director concerned shall arrange for removal of the dangerous conditions immediately, failing which stop the district

Safety performance consisting of fatal and serious accidents shall be included as an item in the confidential report for performance appraisal. The mine conditions, circumstances and cause of accidents shall be give due consideration while making the appraisal The ISO of the subsidiary companies shall be provided separate vehicles exclusively for performing their duty effectively The ISO in the subsidiary companies shall maintain separately lists of mine and other details where there is a possibility of a major disaster. They will also monitor the implementation of counter measures for their avoidance.

The CMD of the subsidiary company will review the performance of the ISO once every quarter
The Director (T) should hold at least one meeting a month with the ISO and the GM of areas to assess the safety performance
The Area Safety Officer will hold meeting with the Managers of the collieries at least once a month for reviewing the safety performance of individual collieries

All applications for permissions, reopening and opening of a district should be checked by the ISO and a certificate should be issued by the ISO to the effect that all safety measures have been provided in the district before it can be opened. The ISO should be provided adequate staff and infrastructure facilities for carrying out their duties effectively. At the CIL level, Director (T) shall hold a meeting at least once in six months with Technical Directors and General Managers (safety) of the Subsidiary companies for the review of safety performance of the companies.

Safety Forums

To enhance safety there exist different Safety Forums such as, Workmen Inspectors and Safety Committees at Unit level, Area Safety Committee at Area level, Bi-partite & Tri-partite Safety Committee at Area and Corporate level, and Joint Consultative Committees active from Unit to Corporate level.

Strata Control

There are in house strata monitoring system with established 3-tier strata control cells at Company, Area & Unit levels. Objectives :– To assess the dilation of strata layers, the convergence of strata and the load & stress around openings To design optimum support system To monitor / control caving of roof as desired To avoid premature collapse of roof & sides To determine threshold limit of convergence and stress for safe withdrawal of men and machineries. Activities :– Conducting periodic workshops at Area level Demonstration of instrumentation at Area & Mine level Mine-wise follow-up for instrumentation Inspections for strata control monitoring and instrumentation At mine level strata monitoring is done on regular basis, which includes; inspection of roof & sides, testing of supports, installation & monitoring of supports, monitoring of roof behavior with the use of indicator props / indicative supports and strata control instrumentation. Roof bolting grouted with resin capsules is the prime system of support. The support system is designed on the basis of Rock Mass Rating which is done at in-house laboratory.

Training of Employees

To enhance and maintain the safety awareness among workers, Safety Fortnights and special safety drives are observed in the mines of SECL. Awareness and Safety talks in each shift are practiced on regular basis to develop a safety culture in accordance of “Code of Practices” for various operations. The initial training is imparted to all new entrants and refresher training is given to all employees as per statute. Thrust on training and retraining of Supervisors, Support Personnel, HEMM operators and contractor’s workers is maintained as a strategy to reduce accidents due to slackness in awareness in underground & opencast mines as well as at surface of mines. Apart from statutory training being provided to employees of SECL under the Mines Vocational Training Rules, 1966 at the time of intake and refresher training at regular interval at VTCs at Areas, need based training is also imparted at Area level and at Management Development Institute of SECL HQ, Bilaspur. Executives are also undergoing special training at IICM, Ranchi & other educational institutions / organizations.

Safety performance

The accidents statistics for last 5 years are tabulated as under:

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Fatal Accidents	9	9	7	11	5
Fatalities	9	12	8	11	5
Serious Accidents	32	21	21	16	22
Serious Injuries	33	21	23	17	22
Fatality rate per MT output	0.062	0.076	0.053	0.073	0.035
Fatality rate per 3 lakh Manshift	0.212	0.298	0.202	0.297	0.143
Serious injury rate per MT output	0.228	0.133	0.153	0.113	0.154
Serious injury rate per 3 lakh Manshift	0.779	0.521	0.581	0.460	0.631

Note. Figs. for the financial years 2019-20,2020-21 & 2021-22 are subject to reconciliation with DGMS.

Rescue arrangement

The Company has teams of active rescue trained personnel (Field Volunteers) as per statute to serve in emergency calls for rescue & recovery operations. Initial trainings for rescue and recovery work are imparted at the MRS, Manendragarh to employees of mines, who voluntarily applied for and found physically fit. Regular refresher trainings in rescue & recovery work are imparted to Rescue Trained Persons (RTPs) at the Mines Rescue Station (MRS), Manendragarh of Hasdeo Area and five other RRRTs of different Areas.

There exist specially designed & constructed training galleries at MRS and RRRTs to provide for initial and refresher training in simulated environment of fire, spontaneous heating and explosion in underground mines. Pit practices are also done to make the rescue trained persons acquainted with changing underground workings.

The Company is having in operation Rescue Rooms with Refresher Training facilities (RRRT) to impart refresher training – 5 Nos. (One each at Johilla, Sohagpur, Bisrampur, Baikunthpur & Kusmunda Areas) and Rescue Rooms – 5 Nos. (One each at Chirimiri, Bhatgaon, Jamuna-Kotma, Raigarh & Korba Area).

The Rescue Station / Rescue Rooms are situated within 35 Kms. of every underground mine as per statute to facilitate rescue & recovery work as early as possible in emergency situations.

All the MRS, RRRTs & RRs are well equipped with Rescue Apparatus like Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), Reviving apparatus and Short Duration Breathing apparatus and maintained per statute. Self-Contained Self Rescuers (SCSR) has also been provided for safe escape of persons in case of irrespirable atmosphere caused due to sudden irruption of noxious gases or outburst of fire in mines. CPR manikins are available at MRS for providing initial and practical demonstrations on Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation.

The services of the Mines Rescue Station, Manendragarh and other Rescue Units of SECL were utilized not only for mining related activities but also for the rescue activities involving the general public and other Government & Private properties. Rescue services of SECL also performed other jobs such as training of mine personnel in fire-fighting, First Aid, Gas testing, use of Self Contained Self Rescuer and Mine Air Analysis (by Gas Chromatograph) on regular basis.

All mines are having well defined emergency organization plan and rescue plan marked with emergency escape route for quick rescue operation. Mock rehearsals are being carried out at regular interval.

Inter Area Rescue Competitions are conducted every year to maintain the rescue preparedness of rescue brigades and to motivate new entrants into rescue services.

SAFETY MEASURES TAKEN IN SECL

The following effective steps taken to improve the safety standards in the mines of SECL: Safe Operating Procedures for each activities prepared in Safety Management Plan (SMP) have been implemented in all working mines. Regular monitoring, review and updating of SMPs are being done. All the provisions of the Mines Act & Rules, Coal Mines Regulations, etc. and the Circulars issued there under in this regard are being complied with to ensure occupational safety for the employees/workers at their workplaces. All the recommendations/suggestions made by the Standing Committee on Safety in coal mines, National Safety Conference, Court of Inquiries, Safety Boards, Bipartite and Tripartite Safety Committee are implemented Special attention are given to all possible measures being adopted to ensure safety in mines as well as the persons employed thereat with due consideration to the implementation of recommendations of findings of the enquiries and deliberation of the same in the safety committee meeting & at pit top. Thrust are given on publicity, propaganda & demonstration at pit top in addition to training at training centers & on the jobs on various practical aspects to generate a safe, effective & productive working environment in mines. All the operational hazards and safe operating procedures with due consideration to statutory provisions laid therein are made afresh well acquainted to all concern through public address system at the starting of shifts at pit top to avoid any slackness in their compliance with a view to ensure occupational safety at their workplaces with a feeling of responsibility. Awareness program are organized at each mine to pin-point the cause of accidents with a view to achieve zero accident potentiality. All persons are made aware of Safe Operating Practices for activities performed in mines to avoid inadvertent unsafe act & practice or any supervisory lapses. Workers including contractor’s workers are being re-trained at VTC and on job as per need to make them aware with the changing new technologies and method of workings with due consideration to the safety norms. Safety Forums such as, Workmen Inspectors and Safety Committee at Unit level, Safety Committee at Area level, Bipartite and Tripartite Safety Committee at Area and Corporate level have been activated with responsibility to enhance & ensure safety standards for the workers employed in mines. In addition to the Mine & Area Management, inspections of the mines are being done by Senior Management officials, ISO officials, Union Representatives & Safety Committee to check & review safety status All the accidents / incidents are inquired into by the Unit/Area & ISO officials and based on their findings corrective measures are taken and with the approval of competent authority the disciplinary action was taken against the persons found responsible for the accident. Based on the findings of enquiry report, ISO circulars are also issued for taking immediate corrective measures. Operators of HEMM & other machineries are being trained afresh through Simulators. Awareness on scientific strata monitoring activities has been developed amongst all concerned in addition to traditional practices to closely monitor the strata behavior in underground mines. Thrust has been given on reduction of deployment in areas of high risk with regard to danger of roof and side falls through mechanization by introducing Continuous Miner & High Wall Mining to reduce exposure of persons to risk areas. Introduced 10 Nos. Continuous Miners in UG mines, 42 Nos. Surface Miners in OCMs and 1 No. Highwal Mining at Sharda OCP to eliminate blasting operation thereby reduce the exposure of men & machinery to risk. The major areas of risk were assessed for each mine and preventive actions were also provided to educate workers. DO’s and DON’Ts with posters publicity and propaganda has been adopted. All the accident affected persons are called before the Safety Committee Meeting and the cause of accident as well as the mistake / defect in the system is analyzed to avoid such accidents. All the resources are made available at the worksite with its know-how to avert accidents in future. Before monsoon the high level review is done to assess the status of monsoon preparation with apprehended danger due to UG / surface waters and accordingly action plan was prepared for implementation & monitoring. Installation of Man Riding System (MRS) for eliminating arduous travelling of workers in UG mines of SECL. 17 Nos. of MRS have been installed at 14 Nos. of UG mines. 2 Nos. of MRS are under installation at Gayatri UG and Katkona UG.2 Nos. of MRS for Khairaha UG Mine of Sohagpur Area is under tendering process. Estimate for 8 Nos. of MRS is under the process of approval. For rest of the mines, it will be installed in phased manner based on feasibility. 11 Nos. of Environmental Tele-Monitoring System (ETMS) for continuous sensor based monitoring of underground environment in respect of gases have been commissioned and are under operation. 9 Nos. of Gas Chromatograph (One each at Areas having UG mines) for quick analysis of mine air samples for presence of gases have been installed and are in operation. Introduced 3 Nos. of Slope Stability Radar in mega OCPs for continuously monitoring the slope & dump stability. Established Strata Monitoring Cell for Underground mines for regular monitoring of roof & side strata movement in advance with instrumentation like Tell-Tale, Auto-warning tell-tail, Convergence recorder, Load-Cell & Bore hole Extensometer. Introduced Resin Capsule for roof bolting in UG mines for secured support for roof strata. Safety Management Plan based on Risk Assessment has been framed & executed in all mines of SECL to mitigate the risk to men & machineries. Conducted Safety Audit of all producing mines of SECL by multi-disciplinary Inter Area & Intra-Company teams. Scientific study both for UG and OC mines are being conducted by reputed scientific agencies for safe operation of mines.

The list of rules, regulations, circulars, etc. followed in general in mining industry are

The Mines Act, 1952 The Mines Rules, 1955 The Coal Mines Regulations, 2017 The Circulars - issued time to time under the Rules & Regulations by the DGMS working under the Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India. Amendments made time to time in the above statutory provisions as per need. Depending on the situation/circumstances and suggestions/recommendations of various forums, new guidelines are also framed by the Govt. law enforcing authority, DGMS.

DISCLAIMER : Information on this site is believed to be accurate but SECL disclaims any liability for any errors or omissions that may occur from time to time. Copyright © South Eastern Coalfields Limited ,SECL Bhawan, Seepat Road,Post Box No. 60, Bilaspur Pin - 495006(Chhattisgarh)