Basic Fire Safety for the Mining Industry

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Basic Fire Safetyfor the Mining Industry
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Costs in Lives and property damage

• Fire kills more Americans than all natural
  disasters combined
• Every year more than 5000 people die in fires and
  over 25,000 are injured
• Estimated property loss of over 9 billion
  dollars.
• What would your losses be?

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Fire prevention

• Through proper safety training
• Good maintenance of electrical and mobile
  equipment
• Good housekeeping
• Proper storage and clean up of combustible and
  flammable liquids
• Good communications between management, labor,
  state and federal agencies
• Basically all fires in the mining industry can
  be avoided

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Good housekeeping
You can prevent a fire incident by using common
sense. HOUSEKEEPINGNo person shall smoke or use
an open flame where flammable or combustible
liquids, including greases, or flammable gases
are--(a) Used or transported in a manner that
could create a fire hazard or(b) Stored or
handled.
Diesel fuel precautions
Flammable or combustible liquid spillage or
leakage shall be removed in a timely manner or
controlled to prevent a fire hazard.All
diesel-powered machines are required to have at
least one 10A60BC portable fire
extinguisher Two portable fire extinguishers must
be installed when a 5 gallon diesel fuel safety
can is carried on the vehicle
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Gasoline precautions
Underground-Industrial Minerals Gasoline should
not be stored underground. Storage for this
purpose means quantity in excess of the amount
that will used in a 24 hour period. A fire
extinguisher should be installed on any internal
Solid Combustible precautions
Waste or rags containing flammable or combustible
liquids that could create a fire hazard shall be
placed in the following containers until disposed
of properly A program for regular cleanup and
removal of accumulations of coal and float coal
dusts, loose coal, and other combustibles shall
be established and maintained. Coal dust,
including float coal dust deposited on
rock-dusted surfaces, loose coal, and other
combustible materials, shall be cleaned up and
not be permitted to accumulate in active
workings, or on diesel- powered and electric
equipment therein.
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Maintenance and Inspection of Electrical Equipment
Surface Underground Industrial
Minerals Circuits shall be protected against
excessive overload by fuses or circuit breakers
of the correct type and capacity.
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Fire Drills

• Familiarize yourself on the fire alarm system.
• Fire alarm procedures or systems shall be
  established to promptly warn every person who
  could be endangered by a fire.
• Fire alarm systems shall be maintained in
  operable condition.
• Mine operators shall establish emergency
  firefighting, evacuation, and rescue procedures.
  
• Who will come if you call and how long will it
  take.

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Escapeway drills- what is required?

• Industrial Minerals-Surface
• Mine operators shall establish emergency
  firefighting, evacuation, and rescue procedures
  prior to an accident occurring.
• These procedures shall be coordinated in advance
  with available cooperative firefighting and
  support organizations.

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What happens if a fire occurs?

• Not all materials burn the same way.
• Materials are grouped by classification of Fire.
• This determines how to extinguish the fire.
• Where are the fire extinguishers located and how
  many
• Where are the fire hoses, fire valves, nozzles
• Is there enough pressure to extinguish the fire
• Remember
• To be forewarned is to be forearmed

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The Fire Triangle
New Stuff
Three things are needed for conditions to be
right for a fire to get started.
Now represents the smoldering mode of
combustion.
fuel
oxygen
heat
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The Fire Tetrahedron
New Stuff
Represents the flaming mode of combustion
The chemical chain reaction has been added to
properly represent a burning fire. If one of
these four items are taken away, the fire will
extinguish
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What about the By-products of the Fire?

• Carbon Monoxide-Incomplete combustion-poisonous
• Carbon Dioxide-Complete combustion-displaces
  oxygen
• Diesel Particulate Matter-unburned diesel
  fuel-carcinogen(cancer causing)
• Carcinogen products-products from the chemicals
  to treat belts and cables to be flame resistant,
  however will be releases at high temperatures of
  a fire.
• Smoke-unburned materials-can contain all of the
  above

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Use ventilation to control by-products and heat

• Make sure that all persons in fire area are
  notified
• Keep the ventilation at your back, dont expose
  yourself to the heat and the by-products of the
  fire

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Class AMaterials are

• Solids
• Wood
• Paper
• Plastic Rubber
• A stands for ash

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How does a solid burn?
Takes place as wood, coal, conveyor belts or any
carbon based products decomposes from the action
of the heat Remember, it is the vapors that burn,
not the solid.
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How to extinguish a Class A fire
Limit material burning Shovel away material Add
rock dust to remaining fuel
Adding water Class A fires only
Place a lid on it, Usually oily rags or paper in
a waste container
Use a fire extinguisher Usually Class A, B C
fires
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Examples

• Reported fires since 2002
• 8 fires due to use of stoves near combustible
  materials
• 1 fire set deliberately by outside persons
• 5 belt fires
• 1 electrical fire

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Class BMaterials are

• Liquids
• Gasoline, Oil, Diesel fuel
• Greases, Hydraulic fluid
• Gases i.e.
• Acetylene, Propane
• Natural Gas
• B stands for boil

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• Special care when using flammable and combustible
  liquids
• The flash point is when at
• the right temperature,
• vapors are released that will ignite

• Flammable Liquids
• Flash point under 100oF
• Gasoline(-42oF)
• Toluene(73oF
• Benzene(12oF)
• Cleaning fluids

• Combustible Liquids
• Flash point over 100oF under 164oF
• Diesel fuel(110oF)
• Kerosene(102oF)
• Home heating fuel(120oF)
• Hydraulic fluids

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Kitchen Fire Instructions
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How to extinguish a Class B fire
Remove excess liquid fuel or shut off bottled gas
cylinders
Not recommended Water can cause the fire to spread
Use a BC or ABC fire extinguisher
Put a lid on it No oxygen, no fire
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Class CMaterials are

• Energized Electrical
• Equipment Cables
• Always treat C fires as though power is still
  on!
• Once the power has been removed, you can
  probably treat it like a Class A or B fire, but
  remember that cables equipment can hold
  electricity even after the power is off!
• C stands for current

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How to extinguish a Class C fire
Not recommended Water can conduct electricity
Shut off the power May still have A or B fire
remaining
May not work because of the high temperature of
the electric arc
Use a BC or ABC fire extinguisher
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Class Dmaterials include

• Combustible Metals
• Magnesium
• Titanium
• Zirconium
• Sodium
• Potassium
• Lithium
• Calcium
• Zinc

D stands for ding
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Class D materials are usually in alloy type metals
They are usually started by a Class A-B-C fire,
and will burn at extremely high temperatures
Shovel away all materials that can be ignite by
the high heat generated
Not recommended- The O2 and H2 in the water will
accelerate the fire
Not recommended- Unsure if ABC extinguisher will
put out Unsure of dangerous by-product from the
reaction of the chemicals
Attempt to isolate the fire by covering with sand
or rock dust
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Class K
New Stuff

• This covers the new synthetic oils greases
  that are the market the new ones being developed

New synthetic oils greases for industry
Problem ABC type fire extinguishers may not work
on these fires, a special Class K extinguisher
may be needed! Inquire about what new products
that are available on mine sites that would fall
into this new category
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Fire Extinguighers

• Dry Chemical
• Ordinary Base BC
• Sodium Bicarbonate
• Potassium Bicarbonate
• Potassium Chloride
• Do not use on A fires, will put out only
  surface area, heated core may re-ignite
• Multipurpose ABC
• Monoammonium Phosphate
• Ammonium Phosphate
• Barium Sulfate

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When are fire extinguishers to be examined?

• Fire extinguishers shall be inspected visually at
  least once a month to determine that they are
  fully charged and operable.
• At least once every twelve months, maintenance
  checks shall be made of mechanical parts, the
  amount and condition of extinguishing agent and
  expellant, and the condition of the hose, nozzle,
  and vessel to determine that the fire
  extinguishers will operate effectively.

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Classification of extinguishers
Type(s) of fire it can put out
How much fire a lay person can put out
For example, a 5A will put out five square foot
surface area of Class A fire A 20BC will put out
a twenty square foot surface area of Class B or C
fire. A properly trained person can extinguish 2
to 3 times the amount listed on the rating.
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• P. Pull the pin
• A. Aim low
• S. Squeeze the trigger/handle
• S. Sweep side to side
• It is important that you should attend an actual
  hands on fire extinguisher class to be
  proficient in their use

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What should you do once the fire is extinguished?

• Check the area closely for any signs of
  reignition
• Clean up all unburned and burned materials
• Report the incident to the proper officials
• What caused the fire, and determine any safety
  precautions to prevent future incidents
• Be careful the fire fighter or persons themselves
  did not expose themselves to any noxious, toxic
  or carcinogen products.

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Questions?