- Accidents and dangerous events in Polish opencast mines in 2017-2021
Opencast mining is characterized by a relatively small number of accidents. In the years 2017-2021, the share of accidents in the total number of accidents in the domestic mining industry does not exceed 3%, and the total accident rate per 1,000 employees was 1.57 to 1.98. Out of 23 fatal and serious accidents in opencast mining in the above-mentioned years, the highest number was recorded in plants exploiting natural aggregate from under the water surface (46.15%) and from reliable deposits (23.08%). About 35% of them occurred as a result of workers' contact with rotating or moving parts of devices. Other causes of serious accidents (15% each) are improper movement of employees near working machines and falls from a height. Other reasons include flooding and flooding of machine operators (12%). Therefore, the "human factor" dominates among the causes of accidents, accounting for 100% of fatal and serious accidents in 2017 and 2019-2021 (and 75% in 2018). Attention should also be paid to dangerous events which, although they did not result in any injuries of employees, posed a threat. And so, in 2017-2021 there were: 14 landslides, 1 flooding of the excavation with flood waters, 11 fires and 6 cases of dispersion of rock fragments outside the safe zone. The reported accidents indicate deficiencies related to the organization of work and the use of machines and devices, including: lack of security and guards for moving machine elements, improper preparation of the workplace (covering, separating, removing hazardous elements, equipping with personal protective equipment), improper marking of hazardous places. Therefore, the improvement of work organization, including limiting the employee's access to rotating parts and to places which are particularly dangerous in this respect, as well as supervision of the works carried out and selection of the appropriate technique for the plant's operation, has a significant impact on the level of safety in open-pit mines. The entrepreneur's duty is also to counteract potential threats through active prevention, including constant training of employees in the field of work safety and existing threats, and checking their skills acquired during the training.
- Management of fire and drainage pipeline networks using computer modeling
The article presents the practical use of the PUMPSIM - 3D Pumping Simulation Software for liquid flow simulation for quick and accurate analysis of various possible options for building a pipeline network, controlling network parameters and selecting drainage pumps. Such software is an effective tool for the design and simulation of both the network supplying water to the designed faces and walls, as well as networks used to drain water from workings. With extensive fire networks and drainage networks without the use of similar tools, it is not possible to perform calculations quickly and accurately, due to the high degree of their complexity. With the use of computer support, it is possible to check several possible solutions in a short time and choose the best one. By entering the appropriate data into the program, you can simulate various solutions to particular problems and at the same time estimate their costs. The article presents a few examples of the use of modern numerical methods to simulate a network of fire and drainage pipelines undertaken by the technical services of KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka" Ruch Zofiówka with the use of the indicated program.
- A contemporary engineer and his prestige (Communication)
The effects of the creative achievements of engineers are the main source of wealth. In the post-war period, they were perceived as the main factor of economic development and enjoyed prestige. When issuing diplomas to graduates, universities recommended their knowledge and skills. Today, there is a mass of higher education and a decline in the prestige of engineering professions. There is a fashion for light, easy and pleasant studies, and at polytechnics even semi-humanist specialties are organized. Meanwhile, the industry needs highly qualified engineers with extensive knowledge, the basis of which are: mathematics, physics and general technical sciences. It is also very important to have an apprenticeship in the profession. Today, an engineering degree does not provide such a guarantee. The ethos of the engineer has been replaced by a prestige based on money and wealth. Engineers' achievements are taken for granted, and only their failures (catastrophes, failures) are covered in the media. It happens exceptionally that an outstanding engineer will receive recognition from his posterity. And yet it is the works of engineers that have transformed the world so that living conditions are better today than in the times of our ancestors. For example, it can be seen that hardly anyone can say who John Bardeen was. Meanwhile, if he had not invented the transistor, there would be no radio, television, cell phones, GPS, computers. And yet the inventor of this epochal device is anonymous to most people today.
- Polish Napoleon dribbling - from the mine to the football pitch
- Successful "life after life" of the Rybnik mine "Ignacy"
Bezpieczeństwo Pracy i Ochrona Środowiska w Górnictwie (Work Safety and Environmental Protection in Mining) - the whole list
