Research

Research is a vital component of continuous improvement in mine rescue. The Mine Rescue Technical Advisory Committee identifies areas of research that will provide the greatest benefit to mine rescue teams and emergency preparedness at mines. Academic institutions are principle research investigators, while Workplace Safety North (WSN) ensures the relevance of projects by involving mine operators and ensures the transfer of knowledge back to the workplace. Currently, the role that heat stress plays in mine rescues is being examined.

Heat Stress Research

WSN is engaged in heat stress research with the Faculty of Health Services from the University of Ottawa. Increasing levels of heat and humidity due to extreme mining depths are significant factors affecting our mine rescue teams. WSN is looking into the fitness levels of volunteers and exploring nutrition and hydration strategies to minimize the ill-effects on volunteers exposed to elevated temperatures while performing rescue work. The initial phase of this research has focused on studying typical mining tasks and classifying them into typical activity groups. Laboratory testing has been conducted to quantify energy expenditure of specific tasks and subtasks. Focusing on an extreme task such as mine rescue is being explored as a future target. One desired outcome is to encourage the commercial development of an instrument that will alert individuals, based on their personal characteristics with a given environmental situation, when they become at risk to heat stress.