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worker safety that's the main purpose of
the Virginia Department of Mines
minerals and energies mind safety team
also known as the division of mines we
enforce the mine safety laws of Virginia
by doing safety inspections and we have
inspection teams in the Big Stone Gap
area and the Lebanon area that cover all
the coal fields and Southwest Virginia
inspectors are on the front line they
visit each site and look for safety
deficiencies they talk with operators
and miners and address any concerns they
issue violations and in closed sections
of the mines if there is a danger could
have a inundation of methane the things
will be rough Falls rough conditions
could be an accident in the mines there
could be a water inundation sometimes we
have those will remind around these old
mines to avoid any of these situations
the team places a lot of focus on
prevention plans are submitted before
the first piece of coal is mined in each
site the coal mines safety teams
technical section is key in ensuring the
plans will work in the technical six
that we have through specialist
ventilation specialists engineers
electrical specialists and a courtroom
let me forget our office surface
services specialist this team reviews
maps and plans so miners can avoid
things like gas wells and abandoned
works they also ensure the airflow is
proper the roof is supported and that
the electrical workings throughout the
mine are safe we generally have about
800 Maps or plans or run through our our
six on each year safety is reinforced
through talks with miners we've been
doing what we call a safety topic of the
month we've been going to all our
underground and surface mines have been
taking safety brochures on the topic for
that month and our inspectors and
specialist talk to all the workers there
and just letting them know you know
these are some things that that are in
your plans these are some things that
may happen on your job site and these
are things you need to be aware of and
it's not just inspectors working with
the coal miners to ensure they're
prepared I can help you get your general
miner certification the division of
mines offers several certifications and
we have certifications starting at the
general coal miner they have to have
that to allow you to work in a mine then
we have the mine Foreman certification
electrical servic a diesel mechanic
certification we have a lot of diesel
equipment running in the mines now we
also have your advanced first aid
certification that we have those people
have to be working at the mines and be
on site on surface and underground have
the surface Foreman certification which
is different than you underground
Foreman certification and the list goes
right off its team of trainers continues
the work after a miner receives the
initial certification they visit mine
sites and offer reach trainings and
certification updates and our training
we train all the miners in Virginia and
to make sure they are ready and capable
of being certified and they know what's
going on out there whether it be the
surface or the underground man another
service offered is the mine rescue team
they serve as backup to all but one
underground mine in Virginia these guys
are ready to go in in harm's way to
whatever is going on and if miners get
trapped they're ready to be there on a
moment's notice to go in and to make
sure we can get our miners out safely
any kind of accident that occurs or
helps with three competitions for all
mine rescue teams in the state every
year this is an effort to make sure
their skills and knowledge are on point
and they are ready for any emergency the
division of mines offers assistance
internally as well recently they began
training mine land reclamation
inspectors on the safety side of things
we're mentoring their inspectors which
were have been just for reclamation only
out on these job sites on these purge
enya permits now they'll be able to do
safety inspections to on surface mines
as we mentor them in a six months
program the coal mine safety and have
also teamed up with mineral mining
inspectors to offer safety electrical
audits on mineral mining sites it's a
service to the operators
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at the end of the day if all miners
returned home safely the coal mine
safety team is successful