Risk of Coal Dust Explosion and its Elimination
Jerzy Kicki, Jacek Sobczyk · 2004
The phenomenon of a coal dust explosion has been known since more than 100 years. Almost 100 years ago the Courrieres disaster, costing 1099 lives took place. Other tragedies followed and continue to occur. We would like to be good prophets and tell that the coal dust explosion hazard is over, but experience and statistics tell us that explosions have occurred and will continue to occur. The question appears-is the lesson of many disasters not learned? Do they result because of lack of knowledge and protection means? What is the cause of the biggest mining hazard? Honest answer for these questions is a simple one-knowledge of coal dust explosion causes, how it occurs, and how to avoid it which knowledge-wise is almost complete. But there are troubles with use this knowledge in everyday mining practice. Investigations of separates cases show that breaking of elementary safety rules always caused the explosion. This was proved in the recent catastrophes in Poland (Cybulski 2002) and abroad (McPherson 2001). The general conclusion of such investigation is need for simple and reliable protection systems. In this paper we want to consider what really should be done from the point of view of mining technology to avoid a coal dust explosion.