The room that keeps a crew alive
When something goes wrong underground and the way out is cut off, a refuge bay is where a crew waits. We funded the research that tests whether those rooms can actually keep people alive, with people inside them.
The room nobody wants to need
A fire, a fall of ground, an irrespirable atmosphere: when the escape route closes, crews retreat to a refuge bay and wait for rescue. Every collier trusts that room with their life, and yet the hard question had not been answered systematically for South African collieries: sealed, occupied, and stressed, does the bay actually sustain life for as long as rescue realistically takes?
Test it with people in it
M2022-2 examined the life sustainability of underground refuge bays across South African collieries and reported in July 2023. Ian Labuschagne’s M2024-2 took the work further: occupied trials, with crews inside the bay and conditions measured as heat, moisture and carbon dioxide build the way they would in a real entrapment. The photographs in our 2023/24 report show exactly what that looks like: miners in the bay, instruments running, the room being asked to prove itself.
Trust, replaced with evidence
Before this work, confidence in refuge bays rested on design specifications. Now it rests on measurement, including measurement with people in the room. Mines know which factors erode survivability and what to fix. The research gives every collier underground a harder-earned kind of reassurance: someone checked.
The evidence. Every claim traces to a published report.
In the news
In June 2024 a full crew spent a working shift sealed inside the redesigned bay at Kangra’s Savmore colliery, and the trade press followed it around the world.
MINING WEEKLYGroundbreaking research supports coal industry safety standards14 Jun 2024↗WORLD COALKangra Coal research supports coal industry safety standards27 Jun 2024↗HEALTH & SAFETY INTLSouth African coal mine drill tests safety of emergency refuge baysJun 2024↗BIZCOMMUNITYKangra coal mine completes experimental safety drillJun 2024↗MQ WORLDKangra coal mine completes experimental safety drill17 Jun 2024↗WHYAFRICAHow safe are underground refuge bays?Jun 2024↗KANGRA COALGroundbreaking research supports coal industry safety standardsJun 2024↗Where this goes next
Refuge bays are the last line. The first lines are the ignition and fire programmes. Related: Continuous Miner Safety. SponCom. Kloppersbos.