Mine rescue training

facility inventory –

compendium of ideas to improve 

US coal mine rescue training

S.B. Bealko, D.W. Alexander and L.L. Chasko

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

R.L. Grayson

Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania

Abstract

In response to recent mining disasters and new mine rescue team legislation, NIOSH researchers conducted meetings across the United States with mine emergency response experts to investigate current 

needs and issues. Some of the issues include emergency response preparedness, mine rescue contests, 

real-life training capabilities and training facilities. Many new teams are being formed that must be 

trained for mine rescue team competitions as well as be ready to respond to a variety of mine emergencies, including a fire or explosion, a massive roof collapse, mine inundations or vertical shaft rescue 

situations. Therefore, it is important that these teams are adequately prepared and trained. This paper 

presents a summary of domestic and international coal mine rescue training facilities and identifies those 

that provide unique, real-life and/or state-of-the-art training. Research findings from this report will be 

used in further NIOSH investigations to improve coal mine rescue training. 

Introduction

When lives are in danger, mine emergency response systems must function rapidly and competently. The hierarchy 

of response actions begins with self-escape and then first responders and/or fire brigades and finally mine rescue teams. If 

there is a breakdown in self-escape and first responders are not 

successful, then the deployment of mine rescue teams, under 

control of incident command centers, is necessary for a safe 

rescue to be accomplished. 

Emergency situations requiring mine rescue teams are highconsequence, low-probability events. Although the mining 

industry’s goal has always been to reduce this probability with 

advanced technology, coal mine legislation and proactive injury 

prevention techniques, the probability may never be reduced 

to zero at every coal mine in the United States. Mine rescue 

team members, just like firefighters, accept some personal risk 

to save the lives of others. “So Others May Live” has become 

a fairly common motto for coal mine rescue teams across the 

United States. Therefore, to minimize risk, it is essential that 

these teams and incident command staff are fully equipped with 

state-of-the-art technology, are professionally trained at keeping 

team safety as the number-one priority and receive guidance 

from only the best available mine emergency response experts. 

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) developed the Mine Emergency Response Development Drill 

(MERD) program to improve command center performance 

during mine emergency situations (Mott and Snyder, 1993). 

In the 1990s, MERD exercises were conducted frequently at 

MSHA’s Mine Simulation Lab, as well as offered by coal companies and state mining agencies. They most often included 

the participation of mine rescue team members, but over the 

years, these MERDs have become less frequent. However, 

this powerful training tool is starting to gain popularity once 

again, with more MERDs being scheduled for 2009 and 2010. 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH) has also developed, over the past 10 years, some 

effective methods of simulated emergency response training 

that have received positive responses from mine rescue and 

fire brigade team members. However, these exercises require 

mine-like environments to be effective (Conti et al., 1998). 

Mine rescue issues and concerns

From December 2007 through March 2008, NIOSH conducted seven stakeholder meetings across the United States 

to investigate the present issues, concerns, barriers and suggestions for improved mine emergency response. Seventy-one 

coal mine emergency response expert practitioners and trainers, 

mostly from industry, participated. Numerous issues emerged, 

including the current need for more emergency response preparedness training, a disparity in standardization of skills and 

equipment, incident command shortfalls between teams and the 

command center, the desire for more realism for mine rescue 

contests and rules and a shortage of available mine rescue 

training facilities. 

Similar issues were addressed in the December 2006 Mine 

Safety Technology and Training Commission Report, spon-
sored by the National Mining Association (NMA), where the 

following findings and recommendations were made (2006):

• “MSHA should establish criteria for the development and 

use of contest problems to ensure that time to complete 

a problem, which is easy to assess during a competition, should not displace other important skill-based 

performances as primary contest objectives. Likewise, 

contest problems should emphasize functions that teams 

will likely be called to perform during an emergency.”

• “MSHA, NIOSH, state agencies, industry and the mine 

rescue associations should collaborate to conduct a 

system-wide assessment of teams’ locations, availabilities and capabilities....”

• “Create a federally-sponsored national mine rescue academy for the purpose of building a national community 

of policy and practice.... Its main role would be to offer 

resident and distance learning courses and programs 

that would enhance and standardize the training and 

capability of mine rescue team members. It could also 

help to identify and disseminate lessons learned 

and best practices, to facilitate promulgation of 

standards for teams, to develop standard teaching 

curricula and to collaborate with universities to 

conduct advanced or specialized training for mine 

rescue personnel.”

• “Federal and state government agencies and 

industry should partner to develop more joint training facilities that provide realistic environments.... 

These should be located to be accessible to teams 

nationwide.”

This paper provides an inventory of coal mine 

rescue training capabilities and facilities across 

the United States and in several other countries. 

It contains a list of every major coal mine rescue 

training facility in the United States, as well as most 

of the smaller training facilities where coal mine 

rescue training is being planned, enhanced or has 

major potential to be expanded. The purpose of 

this research was to identify practices in the United 

States and around the world that could improve 

the current underground coal mine rescue system. 

United States – coal mine rescue 

training facilities and practices

The mine rescue stations for the 170 underground 

coal mine rescue teams registered in the United 

States are displayed in Figs 1a and 1b as red dots 

(Mine Safety Technology and Training Commission, 2006). Also shown are thirteen facilities that 

focus on mine rescue training, offer some real-life 

training activities or have a unique training feature 

that could enhance current coal mine rescue training 

(as of December 2008). Each of the numbered facilities is discussed in more detail below. 

This list of training facilities does not include 

museums, fire departments, mine rescue stations 

or institutions that predominantly offer new miner 

and refresher training, and other specialized coal 

miner training (coal mine rescue training options 

are either non-existent or minimal). Also not 

listed are some academic and government facilities that primarily service metal/nonmetal mine rescue teams, 

including the New Mexico Tech’s Waldo Mine, University of 

Arizona’s San Xavier Mine and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 

in Nevada. Finally, a few coal companies have built their own 

facilities in active or idle mines or buildings. Except for one 

particular privately-owned facility with a very unique feature, 

these facilities are not included in this report. No attempt to 

understand the adequacy of the coal mine rescue training offered or of curricula was attempted in this research. Methods 

for assessing competencies of individuals, teams and incidentcommand structures are beyond the scope of this investigation.

Eleven of these facilities are located in the Midwest and 

eastern states (Fig. 1a) and two are located in the West (Fig. 

1b); they vary in training capacity and capabilities. 

Figure 1 — Locations of all the underground coal mine rescue stations and 12 mine rescue training facilities across the United States: 

a) eastern US and b) western US.

 One of 

these facilities is privately owned (orange square) and is not 

available for public use. Two are government research facilities 

(green circles) that have very limited availability for anything 

beyond training research. One other facility is an academic 

institution (purple hexagon) that is rarely available for public 

use. The other nine facilities (blue diamonds) are available, 
schedule permitting, to all mine rescue teams. 

The numbers in Fig. 1 correspond to the following list of coal 

mine rescue training facility names and descriptions. 

1. Buchanan Mine Rescue Training Facility, Consol Energy Inc.; Grundy, VA (http://consolenergy.com). Formerly 

the central maintenance shop of Island Creek Coal Company, 

the Buchanan mine rescue team began converting this building 

into a one-of-a-kind, all-weather mine rescue training facility in 2007. It is privately owned and not available for public 

use. 

Figure 2 shows the most unique feature in this facility – the 

indoor mine rescue twin practice fields that are each three entries 

wide and five entries deep. Figure 2 — The indoor mine rescue contest practice field at 

Consol Energy’s Buchanan Mine training facility.

The practice fields have coal blocks 

painted on the floor that are 4 × 5 m (14 × 16 ft) wide. This 

area is large enough to allow two teams to practice for contests 

simultaneously. Being able to utilize this field all year long 

and during bad weather creates an efficient training schedule. 

This facility also includes a 33.5-m- (110-ft)- long smoke 

maze, where team members explore and navigate around 

obstacles in a simulated mine environment in which vision is 

highly compromised. Other features of this facility include a 

mine rescue equipment and benching room, first aid station, 

multiple classrooms (annual eight-hour refresher, electrical, 

smoke and new miner training, as well as other specialized 

training) and creative mine rescue artwork. Specialized fire 

fighting and foam training are not currently conducted at this 

site. However, plans are being discussed to build an outside 

fire gallery for first responder training and advanced fire fighting for mine rescue teams.

2. NIOSH Lake Lynn Laboratory, Lake Lynn, PA (http://

www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/). This government research laboratory consists of an underground limestone mine, a surface 

quarry area, fire galleries, offices and laboratory buildings. 

Because it is primarily used for NIOSH research projects, it 

is not publicly available for mine rescue training exercises, 

except for projects where mine rescue teams are used to test 

new technologies and procedures. The simulated coal mine 

portion is designed to match the shape of a three-entry, 427-

m (1,400-ft) long production section, with entries 2 m (6.5 

ft) high by 5.5 m (18 ft) wide. The outdoor fire gallery (Fig. 

3) and fire suppression gallery simulates an underground belt 

entry and is used to teach basic and advanced fire fighting 

skills in confined spaces. 

Figure 3 — NIOSH LLL outdoor fire gallery (simulated belt 

entry) showing two teams extinguishing a fire.

 There is also a mine fire preparedness facility in the upper quarry, consisting of concrete burn 

pads where mine rescue team and fire brigade members can 

learn how to extinguish gaseous, liquid and solid fuel fires, 

evaluate firefighting tactics, and handle fire extinguishers and 

high expansion foam, while researchers study ways to optimize 

the training methods. 

3. NIOSH Bruceton Coal Mine, Pittsburgh Research 

Lab; Bruceton, PA (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/). 

There are actually two adjacent mines at this location, the 

Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) and Experimental Mine, 

which are used to support health and safety research for mine 

workers. The Experimental Coal Mine, currently not available 

to the public, consists of two drift entries and multiple rooms 

with concrete floors driven into the Pittsburgh coal seam. It was 

created to support full-scale mine ventilation, fire and explosion 

tests. There are two areas specially designed to handle large 

fires without risk of the coal seam catching on fire. 

The SRCM is a conventional room-and-pillar operation approximately the size of a large working section of a coal mine 

and is utilized for mine health and safety research in areas such 

as ground control, ventilation, fires, emergency response, materials handling, communications, remote sensing and drilling 

and environmental monitoring. This research mine also has a 

reversible fan, water hydrants, electric power and compressed 

air. Although it is not publicly available for regular use, the 

real-life environment makes it an attractive place to conduct 

mine rescue and fire brigade training research, including a variety of smoke-training exercises and mine emergency response 

development (MERD) drills. The MERD incident command 

center, shown in Fig. 4, is located next to the mine and includes 

communications and mine rescue team staging areas. 

4. West Virginia University (WVU) Mining Extension 

and Outreach, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, Morgantown, WV (http://www.cemr.wvu.edu/eando/

mining). WVU maintains two training centers: classrooms 

and administrative offices are located on the WVU Evansdale 

campus and hands-on, new-miner and mechanic training facilities located at the Emergency Preparedness Center Doll’s Run 

portal facility located about 10 miles away. Training is also 

conducted at the MSHA Academy in Beaver, WV. A notable 

portion of the training is geared towards preparing individual 

coal miners to handle mine emergency conditions, to protect 
themselves and to take action. WVU believes that every miner, 

fire brigadesman and mine rescue team member should have, 

at a minimum, first responder training.

Figure 4 — MERD incident command center exercise at the 

NIOSH Bruceton Coal Mine.

Much of the first responder training is conducted at mine 

sites, for convenience to the mine operator. Two unique mobile training units are deployed to mines or remote locations. 

One specially-designed vehicle, named “The Truck” (Fig. 5), 

is equipped with a changeable three-tiered smoke maze that is 

used to build confidence among miners while wearing SCSRs 

or SCBAs in confined-space drills. 

Figure 5 — WVU Mining E&O’s mobile unit (The Truck) for first responder training in a smoke maze.

It consists of a series of 

movable partitions and swinging doors. The temperature and 

visibility can be adjusted to simulate the heat and smoke from 

a fire. Practical hands-on extinguisher and hose experience can 

be provided by the use of remotely-controlled fire pans in the 

mine yard. First-responder and firefighting training are also 

offered at the MSHA Academy.

Major construction of a simulated mine is underway at the 

Doll’s Run facility. The mine is being built with steel construction, contains three entries, seven crosscuts and an overcast 

area and is equipped with a mobile mine fan. The mine layout 

will be adjustable and real-life fire fighting will be conducted 

within the mine. The facility will be used to accommodate the 

needs of local mines for new miner training, smoke training, 

firefighting and specialized mine rescue training and should 

be available in the fourth quarter of 2009. 

5. Mining Technology and Training Center (MTTC), 

UMWA Career Centers, Inc., Ruff Creek, PA (http://www.

umwacc.com).

The MTTC facility is located north of Waynesburg, PA, in 

a large building (formerly a mine portal) with classrooms and 

a temporary outdoor simulated mine maze built out of brattice curtain walls and tin roof materials. This facility provides 

opportunities for hands-on and smoke training and room for 

expansion on the 25-ha (63-acre) property. The majority of 

training today is designed to meet the needs of inexperienced 

coal miners and mechanics, and to provide mine examiner/

foreman training. Construction of an expansive simulated 

mine, funded by a Commonwealth of PA grant, with similar 

capabilities as the Mine Simulation Laboratory at the MSHA 

Academy, is in progress and will include fire pits and a burn 

tunnel. The simulated mine will have six entries and seven 

crosscuts, making it large enough to train multiple teams at 

once. Some areas in the mine will be hardened, so that team 

members can experience building ventilation controls and 

installing roof supports under apparatus; other areas will have 

the flexibility to simulate a range of coal seam heights and will 

be equipped with hidden overcasts that can be pulled down 

from the roof when needed. The current and future facilities 

are available for public use. 

MTTC plans to conduct the following mine rescue training exercises: MERD contests, exploration and navigation 

techniques in smoke and various classroom courses, including 

first aid, mine systems and ventilation and basic mine rescue 

skills. High-expansion firefighting foam, confined space, heavy 

object removal and incident command center training will also 

be offered. Future plans may include an indoor mine rescue 

contest field and a virtual-reality training theatre. 

6. The Mine Simulation Laboratory (MSL), National 

Mine Health and Safety Academy, Beaver, WV (www.

msha.gov). The MSL is one of seven complexes at the 

MSHA Academy that are available for public use. It contains 

a 4,500-m2 (48,000-ft2) building designed to simulate coal 

and metal/nonmetal mines and has an outside burn area. It is 

available for public use and in 2008 it began operating on the 

weekends in order to keep up with the increasing demand for 

mine rescue training.

The lower floor of the building, shown in Fig. 6, simulates 

a typical room-and-pillar coal mine, with four entries and 

nine crosscuts (Dept of Labor, MSHA, Mine Simulation Lab 

2008). The burn area, on one end of the building, includes an 

incombustible burn tunnel and concrete pads. Mine rescue 

training includes problem solving and first aid classroom 

courses, numerous outdoor firefighting drills, exploration and 

navigation in poor visibility and other exercises where team 

members conduct hands-on mine rescue tasks, including the 

construction of temporary and permanent ventilation controls 

while under apparatus. Other noteworthy features of this 

complex are dormitory space for 320 people, classrooms and 

laboratories that can accommodate 600 students, a cafeteria, 
library, auditorium and wellness facilities.

Figure 6 — Mine rescue team fighting a fire at the MSHA 

MSL fire gallery.

The Mine Emergency Operations (MEO) Building and 

Mine Rescue Station is located next to the Mine Simulation 

Laboratory. The mine emergency command vehicles, office 

trailer, rescue capsule, ATV, emergency generators, and water 

pumps are housed in this building. Also, the mine rescue station 

for MSHA’s Mine Emergency Unit (MEU) is located inside 

and contains a full complement of equipment for mine rescue/

recovery. The MSHA’s MEU has mutual aid agreements with 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. 

military. They also utilize a neighboring facility where they 

partner with The International Union of Operating Engineers 

(IUOE) to provide HAZMAT and Disaster Site Worker Training. MSHA’s mine rescue resources could be used to respond 

to local and nationwide disasters. 

7. Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies, 

Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College 

(SWVCTC), Logan, WV (http://southernwv.edu/mining). 

The Academy at SWVCTC offers academic and certification 

programs to the public, along with specialized coal mine rescue 

training conducted on campus, at a local underground coal mine, 

at a firefighting area, in a trailer equipped with virtual-reality 

computer-based simulations and in a simulated coal mine. The 

downtown facility is designed to simulate underground coal 

mines, with low-, mid- and high-seam heights. It provides 

trainees the opportunity for hands-on training in a realistic 

environment. There is even a hoist elevator that is used for 

transportation and mine shaft evacuation training. 

Mine rescue training exercises include navigation in smoke 

and water hazards, confined space rescue, advanced medical 

training, rapid transportation of injured miners and the use of 

new mine rescue technology, including exploration in poor 

visibility with thermal imaging cameras. Outdoor burn pads 

and a fire gallery are used for specialized firefighting training. 

This facility also utilizes state-of-the-art 3D computer simulations, where trainees can be immersed in real-life situations, 

without exposure to hazardous conditions. 

SWVCTC places a heavy emphasis on incident command and 

mobilization of emergency assets and integrates this expertise 

into mine rescue training in the form of MERDs. This facility 

operates an on-call 24/7 fleet of five mine emergency response 

and support vehicles that is partly funded by the state of WV. 

Given the name Task Force 1, they are specially designed to 

provide communications, rescue and fire service to mines in 

very remote locations. Rescue equipment includes light towers, 

rescue jaws and cutters, 816-t (900-st) airlift bags, technical 

rope equipment for vertical rescue, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), portable power systems and medical 

equipment. The Mobile Communications Unit (Command 1), 

shown in Fig. 7, is equipped with 12 computer workstations 

with fax/copy/scanner capabilities, a GPS and three satellite 

communication systems, MSHA-approved radio systems, a 

portable weather station and helicopter landing-zone equipment. It can be used as an incident command center at any 

location that is accessible by a bus.

 8. RLC Coal Mining Training Center, Rend Lake Community College, Ina, IL (http://www.rlc.edu/). Rend Lake 

Community College, in partnership with the state of Illinois and 

the federal government, has been awarded funding to design, 

engineer, equip and construct a coal-mining training facility to 

revitalize its mining technology program. This program will 

be able to offer a wide range of coal-mining technology and 

training opportunities, including some specialized training for 

mine rescue teams. The facility is expected to be available for 

public use in mid-2009.

The Rend Lake College (RLC) Coal Mining Training Center 

will be a 30-by-61 m (100-by-200 ft) steel building and will 

include classroom and office space, coal mining equipment 

and a small simulated mine. The north half of this facility is 

designed to resemble an underground coal mine for a variety 

of training purposes. It will have removable walls, a black 

colored interior and a smoke machine to simulate limited visibility. The Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals has 

expressed interest in using this facility to train mine rescue 

teams. There will also be an outside area where fire safety 

training will be performed.

9. Kentucky Coal Academy, Madisonville Community 

College, Madisonville, KY (http://coalacademy.kctcs.edu/

contact.cfm). The Kentucky Coal Academy is comprised of 

four community and technical colleges, located in the eastern 

and western Kentucky coalfields, where mining technology 

programs are offered. The mission is to educate and train the 

coal workforce of the future, create and sustain jobs in the coal 

industry and provide career pathways for miners from high 

schools. Mine rescue training is an increasing component of 

the training offered by the Kentucky Coal Academy, especially 

at the Madisonville Community College. This institute utilizes a simulated mine with four entries and four crosscuts to 

conduct smoke training. This mine also contains equipment 

and a refuge chamber. Plans are being made to attach a burn 

tunnel at the end of the simulated mine to facilitate specialized 

firefighting training. 

The Madisonville training offers a unique exercise, where a 

9.3-ha (23-acre) outside field is designed to simulate six entries 

and the length of the field is 366 m (1,200 ft). This field is 

used to teach rapid techniques for underground exploration. 

Trainers strive to teach both mine rescue national contest exploration rules, as well as protocols and practices that would 

be employed during a real mine emergency response. 

10. Alabama Mine Training Consortium (AMTC), Bevill State Community College, Sumiton, AL (http://www.

bscc.edu/mining/). The AMTC, located on the Bevill State’s 
Sumiton Campus, was established to meet the immediate 

needs of Alabama coal companies for mine workers and to 

create a pipeline of future skilled workers. It offers short-term 

academic certificate programs and other training, including a 

new underground miner, refresher, mine electrician, first aid/

CPR and mine rescue. This facility is available for public use.

A simulated mine consisting of four entries, four crosscuts, 

an overcast, beltline, power center and fan is used to conduct 

smoke training and foam training for mine rescue teams. Burn 

galleries and outdoor fire pads are not available, but firstresponder training using hand-held fire extinguishers is offered. 

AMTC recently received funding to build a command center 

and control room that will include computers, communication 

systems and the latest technology in fan and CO sensor alarms. 

Construction has already begun and command-center training 

should be offered during the first half of 2009. 

Figure 7 — SWVCTC Mobile Communications Unit (Command 

1) equipped with a multiple-satellite communication system.

11. Missouri University of Science and Technology 

(MS&T) Research Mine, Rolla, MO (http://mining.mst.

edu). Under the direction of the mining engineering department, this underground limestone mine has the unique feature 

of being utilized to train college students in mine rescue. The 

MS&T student mine rescue teams compete against professional teams and host a metal/nonmetal mine rescue contest 

every year. Another unique feature is that this contest (using 

MSHA-modified rules) is held in an underground mine and 

not on an indoor floor or outdoor open field. 

The main function of the Research Mine is for academic 

purposes and to train the mine rescue students in a real-life 

environment. Hence, it is not available to mine rescue 

teams for training. The facility includes a classroom area, 

an outdoor contest field and a benching room, containing 

both Dräger and Biomarine breathing apparati. Firefighting 

training is limited to the use of hand-held extinguishers. 

Navigation training in limited visibility using artificial 

smoke is being considered. 

12. Edgar Mine Rescue Training Center, Colorado 

School of Mines (CSM), Idaho Springs, CO (http://

mining.mines.edu/edgar_mine.htm). The Edgar Mine is 

one level of an old hardrock vein gold mine with multiple, 

small-cross section entries and large rooms that the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety leases 

from CSM to train mine rescue teams. It is available for 

public use, student training, faculty research projects and 

U.S. Army exercises. Because it is an authentic mine, very 

little simulation is needed to create realistic mine emergency 

training conditions. Instructors strive to prepare teams for a 

wide range of mine emergency events. Training exercises can 

be developed and tailored to the specific needs of any mine 

rescue team. 

Facilities and equipment available at the mine include an 

underground 30-person classroom with audio/visual equipment, 

vertical-rope rescue equipment, a confined-space training maze, 

artificial smoke (non-toxic) generating equipment, live fires, 

gas-testing equipment, breathing apparatus bench facilities and 

other specialized mine rescue equipment. Onsite firefighting 

training is limited to fire extinguisher instruction. However, 

the Colorado Mine Safety and Training Program has a partnership with several local fire departments to conduct specialized 

firefighting training at their facilities. 

MERD exercises, using modified MSHA-approved rules, 

are offered that engage team members in realistic and hands-on 

training. In one example, participating teams rotate through 

three different situations: incident command center, underground mine rescue team, and back-up mine rescue team. Mine 

rescue teams work a realistic problem using both contest rules 

and procedures for a real-life emergency by navigating in smoke, 

building ventilation controls (Fig. 8), simulating fire fighting 

and hose management, performing first-aid procedures on real 

persons, solving problems and making decisions, utilizing backup teams, and performing command-center duties. 

Figure 8 — Edgar Mine MERD exercise showing teams 

building a ventilation control.

Incident 

command training gives team members a better understanding 

of the skills and knowledge needed for decision-making, the 

use of mine rescue team information, ventilation issues, and 

delays that take place during an underground mine rescue. 

Teams are also given a written test (one per team) to assess 

their skills and knowledge and then participate in a debriefing 

discussion at the end of the exercise. 

 

13. Western Energy Training Center (WETC), College 

of Eastern Utah, Helper, UT (http://www.westernenergytraining.org/). The WETC training center is located in the 

former surface portal facilities of the Willow Creek Mine 

and has been converted into a training facility for all energy 

industries in the western United States, including underground 

coal. Training instructors strive to offer practical and handson training for new miners, annual retraining, virtual-reality 

simulation, first aid, electrical safety, etc., and prepare coal 

miners for emergency response. The outside grounds offer 

only limited firefighting capabilities. This facility is available 

for public use and provides training across a variety of energy 

industries for maintenance, power-plant operations, oil and gas 

production and construction.
Limited mine rescue training is currently being conducted; 

however, several new additions to enhance training capabilities 

are being proposed as funding becomes available. A simulated underground mine is planned, along with re-opening an 

underground tunnel (formerly a concrete-lined belt entry) to 

provide more realistic and confined-space firefighting exercises. 

Dormitory space is currently being proposed for long-term 

training needs.

Summary of US coal mine rescue training 

facilities

A visual inspection of Fig. 1 suggests a deficiency in the 

number and capacity of coal mine rescue training facilities. 

Only eight of twelve (67%) training facilities discussed above 

are readily-available public facilities; the others are either 

exclusively for government or academic research or are 

privately-owned resources. This shortage of local facilities 

causes many teams to travel long distances, which consumes 

valuable training time and resources. Furthermore, teams might 

not even be able to receive training at the closer facilities, 

because of limited availably in the facility schedule. 

Tables 1 and 2 show whether or not eleven selected features 

and training capabilities are provided at each investigated facility. For training centers that are in a planning or construction 

phase, expected start dates are given. 

Table 1 — List of the 13 mine rescue training facility capabilities and features.

Facility name

Available to 

public UG Mine (real or simulated)

Classroom 

exercises Specialized firefighting Navigation in smoke

1. Buchanan no no yes proposed yes

2. Lake Lynn research only real no yes yes

3. Bruceton research only real no no yes

4. WVU E&O yes sim.offsite MSL yes yes, offsite MSL yes,

mobile unit & MSL

5. MTTC yes sim.3rd Qtr 2009 yes

yes,

3rd Qtr

2009

yes

6. MSHA MSL yes sim. yes yes yes

7. SWVCTC yes sim. yes yes yes

8. RLC yes sim. 3rd Qtr 2009 yes yes, 3rd Qtr 2009

yes

3rd Qtr

2009

9. KY Coal Academy yes sim. yes yes, 2010 yes

10. AMTC yes sim. yes no yes

11. MS&T no real yes no proposed

12. Edgar Mine yes real yes yes, offsite yes

13. WETC yes sim. 2nd Qtr 2009 yes yes, 2010 yes, 2nd Qtr 2009

Table 2 — List of the 13 mine rescue training facility capabilities and features.

Facility name

Incident command or 

MERD exercises Heavy object lifting

Vertical or 

shaft rescue

Water 

rescue

Indoor contest 

practice fields On-site lodging

1. Buchanan no no no no yes no

2. Lake Lynn yes no no no no no

3. Bruceton yes no no no no no

4. WVU E&O yes no no no no no

5. MTTC yes yes no yes proposed no

6. MSHA MSL yes no no no no yes

7. SWVCTC yes yes yes yes proposed no

8. RLC no no no no no no

9. KY Coal Academy yes no no no no no

10. AMTC yes, 2nd Qtr 2009 no no no no no

11. MS&T no no no no no no

12. Edgar Mine yes proposed yes no no no

13. WETC yes no no no yes proposed

Tables 1 and 2 show that out of the eight public facilities, 

four of them are currently under construction and should be 

in full operation by late 2009 or 2010. MSHA’s Mine Simulation Lab is the oldest and most heavily utilized facility. A 

new facility that provides real-life and wider-ranging training 

opportunities is the SWVCTC Academy for Mine Training 

and Energy Technologies in Logan, WV. All of the available 

centers provide training in a real or simulated underground 

mine and offer a range of classroom and first-aid teaching 
exercises. Most of them offer specialized firefighting and 

smoke-training exercises, but some must go offsite or utilize a 

mobile unit. Incident command or MERD training is provided 

by most facilities, except for the ones located in the Midwest 

United States (MS&T and RLC). Heavy-object removal and 

vertical-rope rescue is offered at two training centers and water 

rescue is only offered at one. Teams at only two facilities can 

practice on indoor mine rescue contest fields, but two more 

are being proposed at two different facility locations. Finally, 

only one facility can provide lodging, the MSHA Academy. 

A review of Tables 1 and 2 and Fig. 1 suggests that training 

capabilities and facilities are not universally available to all 

teams. Some regions require teams to travel long distances, 

especially in western Colorado/New Mexico, Ohio, Kentucky, 

Tennessee, Virginia and Oklahoma/Arkansas. However, NIOSH 

is currently investigating this issue further and will provide 

more detailed information in future reports. 

International mine rescue training facilities

Although funded, staffed and legislated in diverse ways, it 

is typical for international coal-producing countries to operate regional mine rescue training facilities. They are centrally 

located in the middle of coal fields or between groups of mines 

to keep travel time from each mine to a minimum. These 

facilities also have the capacity to train all of the local mine 

rescue teams. 

Highly specialized and all-inclusive training centers exist 

in South Africa, Australia, China, India, United Kingdom, 

Germany and Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland and the Ukraine). 

They provide physical, and sometimes rigorous, hands-on 

training in mines or simulated real-life environments. The 

full-time staff at these facilities are highly experienced mine 

emergency response specialists and provide expertise and 

leadership during mine emergencies. It is common in some 

countries to utilize specialized medical personnel as full-time 

staff and trained members of the mine rescue teams. 

These centers offer the basic mine rescue training similar to 

those listed in Table 1. Some facilities offer other specialized 

training, including multiple-casualty extrication, life-support 

mine medics, rescue through boreholes, location of trapped 

miners and control-room and incident-command-center procedures. Australian training facilities utilize state-of-the-art 

virtual-reality theaters to simulate a wide range of mine hazards 

and mine rescue training exercises. Medical testing (heat tolerance and fitness for duty), first-responder training, standards 

evaluation and auditing, coordination of mine rescue teams, 

the housing of specialized mine-emergency equipment and 

technical expertise training are other uses of these facilities. 

Finally, these centers are utilized for mine rescue contests. The 

contests are designed to have multiple real-life or simulated 

exercises that assess individual team member competencies.

Conclusion and recommendations

Training in a real-life environment with opportunities for 

hands-on experience has been established as beneficial to coal 

mine rescue teams. Most international mine rescue teams 

receive standardized skills training for a wide range of mine 

emergency responses. Right now there is a training disparity 

among teams for both skill competencies and opportunities to 

learn. Throughout this training facility and practices investigation, NIOSH researchers created a list of skills and knowledge 

for mine emergency response. This comprehensive list is 

provided below. Competencies in these skills are suggested 

for all teams to be better prepared for a mine emergency and 

to help standardize mine rescue skills across the United States. 

Primary skills

• Basic mine rescue skills and practices (contest and 

real-life rules, first aid, map reading, mine gases, dust 

and ventilation, communications, breathing apparatus, 

rescue and firefighting equipment, atmospheric gas 

collection, ventilation control construction, etc.)

• Basic mining skills and knowledge (roof and rib control, shoring and cribbing standing support, sources 

of ignition, the importance of adequate rock dusting, 

equipment safety, personal protective equipment, capabilities and limitations of hand-held gas detectors, 

electrical do’s and don’ts, history of mine disasters 

and outcomes, etc.)

• Basic knowledge of incident command, surface support 

and the use of back-up mine rescue teams.

• Advanced first aid and life support systems (e.g., a 

paramedic on each team).

• Specialized firefighting; ventilation effects of fires 

• Navigation and working under apparatus and in reduced 

visibility (smoke or dust) 

• Multiple team rotation procedures.

• Incident-command training.

• Problem-solving and decision-making.

Non-typical skills

• Heavy-object lifting or removal.

• Vertical-rope rescue or repelling from structures or 

shafts and raises.

• Still and swift water rescue.

Preliminary findings suggest that increasing the current 

number of training facilities and/or capacities may help coal 

mine rescue teams be better prepared for mine emergencies. 

Numerous countries utilize regional or centralized mine rescue 

training facilities to provide the above skills training. These 

facilities are structured to be systematic, efficient, self-contained 

and designed to provide realistic training. This report shows 

that comprehensive regional facilities do not exist in the United 

States. However, there are existing facilities that provide varying amounts and kinds of realistic and hands-on coal mine 

rescue training. This paper provides numerous examples of 

good and unique features that could enhance each facility in 

one area or another.

The research findings in this report will be used in further 

NIOSH investigations to improve coal mine rescue training and 

to consider the applicability of international practices. Further 

studies are needed to more clearly define coal mine rescue 

training needs and develop recommendations for improvement. 

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the coaching, mentoring, 

and training of mine rescue personnel is adequate to protect 

teams and prepare them for a mine emergency response to the 

fullest extent possible.

References

Conti, R.S., Chasko, L.L., and Stowinsky, L.D., 1998, “Mine rescue training 

simulations and technology,” Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference 

of the International Emergency Management Society, pp. 453-464.

Mine Safety Technology and Training Commission, 2006, Improving Mine Safety 

Technology and Training: Establishing U.S. Global Leadership, December, 

pp. 55-77. 

Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Mine Simulation 

Laboratory, accessed October 2008, www.msha.gov/programs/epdmsl.htm

Mott, M.L., and Snyder, M.P., 1993, “Mine emergency responsiveness development program procedures,” Mining Engineering, Vol 45, No 10, pp. 1258-1261.