The mine rescue teams of the OKD Central Mine Rescue Service (OKD HBZS, a.s.) head to the front line at every emergency. And their work in other areas increases underground safety. That is why the OKD HZBS rescuers are highly respected by the miners; they trust them.
Most people see mine rescuers as those who bring out people from underground accident and emergency situations. Can you describe the scope of OKD HBZS, the OKD Central Mine Rescue Service?
The public is right in many aspects. Our main task is to save lives and protect people following an accident underground. Our health and life are the two most valuable possessions we have, so protecting them gives real meaning to our work. All other aspects, such as the protection of property during an accident and the rectification of the aftermath of an accident, come a long way behind that consideration.
However, it is true that the public is generally only aware of our work in terms of this particular context, even though the extent of our activities is a good deal wider.
How then should the scope of your organisation be defined?
We form an integral part of any mining activity. Our position and assignments are clearly defined in the Mining Act, in public notices issued by the Czech Mining Authority regarding the mine rescue service, and in our service code, approved by the Czech Mining Authority.
Our remit includes the nationwide supervision of all mining activities taking place underground. We exercise supervision over uranium mining carried out by Diamo, which operates its own rescue unit, which is in turn subject to our supervision and guidance. We make sure that their equipment as well as their emergency plans are in proper order. We also supervise activities related to water dams, for example in relation to the cascade of dams on the river Vltava and activities taking place in caves and other underground workplaces.
You are a wholly owned subsidiary of OKD. With respect to your remit, I expect that the majority of your economic activity and revenues depends on the miners.
Of course, the parent company is our key customer with absolute precedence. However, we are economically active and try to be self-sustaining outside of our work for OKD. Approximately one half of our revenues come from other sources. OKD’s CEO, Klaus-Dieter Beck, once called us a “small but very sexy bride”. That pleased me quite a bit.
You have mentioned other activities. Can you be more specific?
Certainly, because I view them as an expression of appreciation of the high quality of our work and people. We have this year become part of the nationwide integrated rescue system, a role we previously played within our region only. Once the level of technology available to us, and the skills of our rescuers, were witnessed by the competent authorities, it was decided to include us in the national system and to call on us in emergencies where we could help. One example would be floods. We possess powerful pumping technology and a boat, and half our rescuers have scuba-diving skills that enables them to dive to depths of up to 70 metres. In terms of caves, one of our rescuers happens to rank among the 10 best speleologists in Europe.
All of our rescuers are professional climbers, which can be quite handy during an accident or an emergency. We closely cooperate with the police and the fire brigade, which regularly ask for our assistance. The job of the fire brigade is very similar to ours in many aspects. The one marked difference is that we are used to working underground and therefore possess skills that regular firemen lack. For example, each of our rescuers posses skills to prevent objects from collapsing. This is something that is not regularly demanded of firemen. So, you can see that our people apply themselves well beyond the boundaries of the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield. I am very proud of them.
What benefits stem from your cooperation with the police?
I will answer that question with a rather bizarre story. Some time ago, we were contacted by the criminal investigation department saying that they had talked to a witness who had allegedly seen a murderer toss two bodies into a deep pit located within the largest military range in the country, Libavá in Olomoucký Region. As there was an insecure slope above the pit that was threatening to slide at any moment, the police asked us to investigate. Neither the police nor the fire brigade felt up to the task. We eventually used a remote camera which was lowered more than one hundred metres beneath the surface.
And did you find the bodies?
No. The witness was either trying to put the police on a false trail or was just playing some kind of “practical joke”.
Can you explain where the other half of your revenues comes from?
Our key business in this respect is the disposal of fly ash and waste materials. In simple terms, power plants and heating plants produce fly ash, which we store in disused mines, or deliver for further utilisation in landscape reclamation or for use as a construction material for foundation slabs (a fly ash and Portland cement mix).
There have been attempts in the past to push us out of the market. The people behind these attempts thought that it would suffice to buy a disused mine or a quarry and simply start filling it with fly ash and refuse. However, the reality today is quite different. There are numerous standards related to environmental protection as well as various health and safety regulations. Besides, all the activities are subject to stringent inspections.
Our competitive advantage in this respect is our ISO quality certification and other necessary certificates that enable us to dispose of fly ash legally. Of course, we split our profit with the transporters, one of which is AWT, for example, plus we pay a fee to the mines and to the municipalities for fly ash disposal.
Let us move on to what you have described as the most valuable asset of OKD HBZS, namely its people. How many employees do you have and what is the structure of the professions within the company?
We have 190 employees. Of those, 35 are professional rescuers, 105 work in the mines and provide service to miners in the lamp stations, and the remainder are mechanics and office clerks.
Describe the standard day of a professional rescuer?
The greatest difference between our work and that of a regular job is the non-stop stand-by duty. Our people serve on standby every five weeks. They come to work on Friday at seven in the morning and leave the next Friday at the same hour. It is this time, regularly shared among our people, that is so important in developing fellowship and responsibility for one another at critical moments.
During the week-long standbys, the rescuers perform their duties from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon, just as they do when under standard working hours. After that, they have free time. However, they must remain within the premises. They can work on their fitness and exercise, or further their knowledge and technical skills. We know very well that our people are not robots, so they are provided with the necessary facilities in which to spend their free time.
However, all 26 people on each week-long standby duty must be ready at all times to suddenly head off to attend a call-out. In the case of a call-out, the siren sounds and all of the standby employees must be ready for duty within three minutes.
What is the composition of a rescue team?
There must be three teams of five rescuers ready at any one time. One team is composed of our people while the other two comprise rescuers from the individual mines who are required to cover the stand-by duty with us at least once every 18 months. This is done in order to fortify their rescue routines and/or so they can learn new procedures and acquaint themselves with new equipment.
There is always a doctor on standby at the station, and two paramedics. Then there are the drivers for the three emergency vehicles that are available at all times, the technicians, the chief officer of the base and the chief officer of the standby team. That makes 26 people. If the complete team responds to a call-out – something which is decided by the standby chief officer depending on the severity of the particular incident – the control room officer must contact the rescuers on home standby, who are required to supplement the station’s effort. We must be ready to respond at all times.
You have mentioned rescuers from the individual mines. Are they employees of HBZS or OKD? What is their role?
They are employees of the relevant OKD mines. In general terms, it can be stated that for our coalfield area there are approximately 850 voluntary rescuers. They are members of the rescue teams at the separate mines, volunteers who work as normal like their colleagues, but with their rescue duties taken on top of their work as a voluntary activity. These rescuers primarily receive guidance from us. They can come and learn how to use the latest available technology, or acquaint themselves with any new procedures that are being introduced. That is why they are required to attend a week-long standby at least once every 18 months, as I’ve already mentioned. During this week they can if necessary bring their qualifications up to speed.
Let us move on to the doctors you have mentioned as being a part of the rescue team.
We cooperate with 18 doctors. The number is so high because they are all top professionals in their respective fields, working in hospitals and specialised medical facilities. The rescue work is a matter of choice for them, and it is something to which they dedicate their free time. They do it because they consider it important and meaningful. In an emergency, the doctor is always up at the front line. He is among the first to reach the people in the emergency situation. He determines their condition and provides
first aid.
When the on-duty doctor is away on a call-out, we must immediately secure another doctor who will be ready should another rescue get under way. We have yet to have a case where no doctor has been on duty.
What criteria must one meet to become a mine rescuer?
Primarily you must have impeccable health, physical fitness and the motivation to help people in distress. The person should also have some experience of being a rescuer in one of the mines and should be acquainted with the environment in which coal is mined.
Does that mean that people from other walks of life have no chance of joining your team?
I wouldn’t say they have no chance. But it is very complicated. We have had applicants from among the top “above ground” rescuers and yet they failed. Our job is highly specific and knowledge of the underground mining environment is absolutely essential. Moreover, people from OKD mines bring with them habits and attitudes where solidarity, responsibility for one another and mutual respect come first. It is impossible for a person to become a top mine rescuer if they lack any of these qualities. And I must say I am proud of my people in this respect.
The attractiveness of the job is well documented by the considerable demand that there is for a place with us. Our team is gradually getting older, with the average age approaching 40, so we are recruiting young blood. However, we admit only the best.
Do you collaborate with rescuers from other European countries? Where do you rank internationally in terms of technical equipment and manpower?
Of course, collaboration and the exchanging of experiences among rescuers from different countries is very important for our work. For example, hard coal is mined under similar conditions in Poland, and that provides the reason for our close cooperation with mine rescuers from Bytom.
We keep in touch with our colleagues in Austria and Germany, who regularly invite us to joint exercises. I can say that in terms of technical equipment we have made considerable headway in recent years, while in terms of manpower quality we certainly rank among the very best in Europe.
You talk of modernisation of your equipment. Can you go into some more detail?
The clear impulse for the modernisation of both personal protective equipment and safety gear for the miners as well as the rescuers came with the arrival of NWR and the new CEO Klaus-Dieter Beck. Hundreds of millions of koruna have been invested in the acquisition of the most up-to-date equipment available on the market. This project, alongside other implemented measures, has been clearly vindicated by the decreasing numbers of accidents in OKD mines, which are now the safest they have ever been in their entire history. All miners and rescuers are equipped with new self-rescue devices, lamps and detectors that meet the best parameters.
How does one become the chief mine rescue officer?
I was appointed director on 1 July last year. I had worked at the ČSM Mine for 28 years before that, eventually becoming the director of the mine. I had already gone through a rescue course as a geology student at the Mining University in Ostrava in 1980. In a way, rescue has been a family tradition. My father was a respected rescuer, even though he worked in the mines as a labourer. I have a book on mine rescue in our coalfield and a profile of my father is listed among eight prominent personalities of the profession.
So it was your family that steered you in this direction?
Not at all. My dad once even told me, jokingly, that if I ever decided to work down the pits he would break my legs [laughs]. While studying at secondary school, I wanted to become an archaeologist, but I eventually chose to study geology instead. I reasoned that geology was close enough to archaeology. And as I was studying alongside foreigners, I played with the idea that I could one day practise geology somewhere abroad.
In 1982, when I got a job at the ČSM Mine as a geologist, I became a member of the mine rescue unit. In my opinion, every man has this desire deep inside him to be the best, to be better than the others. As a boy, I saw the mine rescuers as an elite who are capable of more than other people in the mining industry. I don’t mean to be derogatory at all. But that is why my career took this direction.
My becoming the director of OKD HBZS must in part be due to the fact that I have been through countless situations and rescue operations, which indicated a predisposition for this job. The large number of operations I have experienced is also documented by the fact that I have been awarded the Golden Rescue Cross, the highest award rescuers can receive in our country. My father was also a holder of this award and when I was given mine, we became the only father and son holders.
What does a mine rescue chief do when off-duty?
I live in Hnojník, a small village between the towns of Frýdek-Místek and Český Těšín. I have been the chairman of the local football club for more than twenty years. We regularly hold various social and cultural events, such as balls, country-style evenings, or football tournaments. That is the best way to relax for me. I am also a great fan of the Třinec ice hockey team, who won the league last year.
Marek Síbrt,
marek.sibrt@okd.cz