As the day passed, my colleague had conversation on his
phone with his parents describing about the events of the day. To my curiosity
when I was heeding I discovered that they were unaware of the basic protection
equipment. When I had a chat with my friends belonging to other streams they
too had a very little idea about this which led me to write a post on this
topic.
The equipment's that are worn by the
personnel to reduce the effect of hazard in their field of work are known as
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). They can protect the individual from
physical force, electric shocks, burning heat, airborne dust and bio-hazards.
These are extensively used in the jobs related to occupational and safety
purposes, in daily life and sports. In cricket the batsmen gets dressed up with
helmet and pads to defend the ball which is thrown at high pace likewise in
mines the personnel are required to wear helmet, gum boots, mask etc. which
helps them from various hazardous conditions encountered in the mines.
Human brain is the essential
element for the functioning of the body and is very much sensitive to the
shocks or blows on the head. Helmets are used to cover the head and they
annihilate the mechanical energy and preventing from penetration. The stones present
on the drives can make walking a difficult task with bare foot or the boots.
The safety boots are provided which protects the toe with a metal present
inside the boot. Gum boots are used in the mines where poor drainage system or
the heavy ingress of water is observed which make the drive muddy and loose.
They are splendidly known as Wellington boots in the fashion world. Machines
working in the mines produce lots of dust and noise. The airborne dust produced during its transit
or drilling can be inhaled by the person working in that region and at a long
run it affects the respiratory system of the personnel and the noise can make
the person go deaf. To forestall these things personnel have been provided with
mask and ear muffs for being safe and sound. Some of the uncommon things in the
mines are goggles to protect the eyes, and self rescuers for rescuing
themselves from ambiance containing low oxygen percentage.
During my training period, I was
provided with helmet, goggles, mask, ear muffs and gum boots while entering
into the mine. I was very much casual while having them on. The first shock I acquired
was when I advanced along a low heighted gallery and a rock bolt protruding out
of the roof hit my helmet. I had stars flying around my head till the supervisor
made me sit and gave me water to stabilize. Then after a while of rest, we
moved on and I was very much careful but then we encountered watery region which
was slippery too. I was assured that the water will not enter inside the gum
boots and I wouldn’t slip off. While we were moving I was feeling cold feet
which I thought of the water being cold but that kept on increasing then I realized
that water has entered into the boot by a tiny hole and my foot was drenched and
became heavy. The boot being itself heavy now the water added up the weight, it
became difficult to walk with one foot lighter and another heavier. When I reached the working face there were
machines running making loud noise and for my goodness there was no problem
with the ear muffs. While we were returning from the face we stopped in front
of the ventilation door to rest as I was drenched with my own sweat and panting.
As I was feeling uneasy inside the mask, I removed it and didn’t put it on. When
my supervisor opened the ventilation door the air gushed in with the dust, my
eyes were covered with goggles so that prevented from getting my red. But the
fact that I removed my mask made me foolish as it made me sneeze quite a lot.
The lesson I learned during the
training made me to check the PPE’s before wearing and should be careful though
they are worn and never ever remove them till we reach the surface. Personnel Protective
Equipments are used to save your life but the fact that if we be foolish while
using these things and not be careful from our prospective it would be
difficult to halt the accidents. Though we are using these there are many accidents
happening in the mines that are related to not using the PPE’s properly. So there is only rule………
SAFETY
FIRST, PRODUCTION MUST
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