David Cliff

A Methodology to Monitor Airborne PM10 Dust Particles Using a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Throughout the process of coal extraction from surface mines, gases and particles are emitted in the form of fugitive emissions by activities such as hauling, blasting and transportation. As these emissions are diffuse in nature, estimations based upon emission factors and dispersion/advection equations need to be measured directly from the atmosphere. This paper expands upon previous research undertaken to develop a relative methodology to monitor PM10 dust particles produced by mining activities making use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A module sensor using a laser particle counter (OPC-N2 from Alphasense, Great Notley, Essex, UK) was tested. An aerodynamic flow experiment was undertaken to determine the position and length of a sampling probe of the sensing module. Flight tests were conducted in order to demonstrate that the sensor provided data which could be used to calculate the emission rate of a source. Emission rates are a critical variable for further predictive dispersion estimates. First, data collected by the airborne module was verified using a 5.0 m tower in which a TSI DRX 8533 (reference dust monitoring device, TSI, Shoreview, MN, USA) and a duplicate of the module sensor were installed. Second, concentration values collected by the monitoring module attached to the UAV (airborne module) obtaining a percentage error of 1.1%. Finally, emission rates from the source were calculated, with airborne data, obtaining errors as low as 1.2%. These errors are low and indicate that the readings collected with the airborne module are comparable to the TSI DRX and could be used to obtain specific emission factors from fugitive emissions for industrial activities.

The role of human factors and ergonomics in mining emergency management: three case studies

Mining is a complex and hazardous work domain. This paper presents three related research studies in mining emergency management, highlighting the contribution that human factors and ergonomics are making to this field. The first study investigates the challenges associated with the collection and management of information during underground coal mining emergencies from a human-centred perspective. The second and third case studies build on the first study: the second one focuses on decision making deficiencies in incident management teams and the final one examines organisational issues related to mining control rooms during emergencies. In each of these three research studies, the broad problem is first defined, then the work undertaken and results produced are described, and finally the implications and future work are presented. Following this, the human factors contributions to help create safe and efficient mining emergency management systems are discussed.

Hours of work risk factors for coal mining.

This paper considers the principal variations in accident and incident risk in relation to roster design within the Australian coal mining industry. Analysing industry-wide accident and incident statistics for both a wide range of coalmine operating conditions and different roster patterns allowed for the impact of hours on shift, number of successive shifts and the type of shift to be evaluated. In general, the obtained results did not indicate any strong association between hours of work and the number of incidents or injuries. Likewise, there was no detectable change in the relative number of severe injuries between shift types.

Analysing mine emergency management needs: A cognitive work analysis approach

In this paper, we argue that cognitive work analysis (CWA), a framework for analysing, modelling and designing complex work systems, is an effective approach to determine the emergency management needs of mine operators. To demonstrate, we applied work domain analysis (WDA), the first phase of the CWA framework, to the analysis of the mine emergency management needs of control room operators in an Australian underground coal mine context. Overall, we found that CWA supported a holistic approach to the analysis of emergency management needs by capturing requirements that involved (a) emergency and routine operations, and (b) social and technical aspects of the work. We conclude with implications for the development of procedures, technology and training in underground coal mine emergency management systems.

A comparison of underground coal mine emergency management in China and Australia

This paper introduces current practices on underground coal mine emergency management in China and Australia. From aspects of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (PPRR), methods, measures and technology applied in two countries on underground coal mine emergency management are compared. The influences of education, engineering and enforcement (3E) on accident prevention in both countries are analysed. Differences on legislations, emergency plans, organisation, equipment and exercises during emergency preparedness are enumerated as well as the reasons leading to these differences. On the aspect of emergency response, the incident classification, command structure, evacuation and aided rescue are compared. For emergency recovery, differences on incident report rules are emphatically compared. At last, advantages and challenges of China and Australia on underground coal mine emergency management are concluded. Third party emergency services, trigger action response plans (TARPs) and high potential incidents (HPIs) are three major advantages from which China could benefit.

Geotechnical Assessment of Potential Underground Mining Impacts for a Proposed Urban Development Project in Cessnock, NSW

Abstract Mine subsidence is a geotechnical issue that impacts development throughout large portions of the urban areas of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter Valley. The geotechnical assessment of mine subsidence impacts is a complex process that is only well understood by a few engineering specialists in the field of mine subsidence engineering. This paper presents a case study of a mine subsidence assessment for a proposed industrial zoned site in Cessnock, NSW. It illustrates the assessment process for a site that features a number of potential challenges including a thick mined coal seam of widely varying depth and a history of underground coal fires. The application of the Cerberus probe as a mine subsidence investigation tool is also presented.