Detectability of a Self-Illuminating Lifeline for Self-Escape in Smoke Conditions of an Underground Mine

Details

• Personal Author:
  Macdonald B ; Martell MJ ; Rubinstein, Elaine ; Sammarco, John J.
• Description:
  Lifelines are used to aid self-escape of underground miners, but they are difficult to find in low-visibility conditions of smoke, therefore a self-illuminating lifeline could facilitate miners in locating the lifeline. The detection distance, colour recognition, and miss rate for 10 subjects were determined for red-, green- and blue-lighted diffuse fibre-optic cables, used to create a lighted lifeline, and a traditional rope lifeline in a smoked-filled environment. The testing was conducted with and without a cap lamp. The use of a cap lamp resulted in all cases being undetected in 98.3% of trials. With the cap lamp off, there was no significant difference in the detection distance for blue- and green-lighted fibres; however, the miss rate for the green-lighted fibre was slightly higher. The red-lighted fibre was not detected in 93.3% of trials. The green- and blue-lighted fibres enabled the best visual performance, but subjects had difficulty correctly identifying the colour of the fibre. The lighted fibre-optic cable appears to have merit for improving self-escape from underground mines, and may have other mining and non-mining applications that include improving self-escape visibility. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Escape Systems Escapeways Smoke Detection Underground Miners Underground Mines Visual Aids
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1477-1535
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  64-78
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054901
• Citation:
  Light Res Technol 2020 Jan; 52(1):64-78
• Contact Point Address:
  Max J Martell, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health / Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, 626 Cochrans Mill Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Email:
  mmartell@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Lighting Research & Technology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:65b1d997f636265df1991f3bf169217baa041371e176f646c8543db632aea2e70150d5ba6cb839b7d8a129aff06de8811425d9a7649bf0e5be6e8daee35558a4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227834/cdc_227834_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 981.93 KB ]