All 5 people died and miners were trapped for more than 6 hours before reporting to the government at Gengcun Coal Mine in Henan Province
On the morning of September 22, the website of the State Administration of Mining Safety reported a major fire accident case of "5.9" at the Gengcun Coal Mine of Henan Dayou Energy Co., Ltd. in Sanmenxia, Henan. The accident was caused by spontaneous combustion of broken coal around the wind window, which quickly spread. High temperature smoke and high concentration CO blocked the escape passage, resulting in the death of 5 people.
The accident case report revealed that the coal mine did not report the accident in a timely manner. After the disaster expanded and it was confirmed that 5 people were trapped, the accident was not reported in a timely manner. It was not until 5 people were trapped for more than 6 hours that the mine reported the accident to the relevant government departments; The emergency response at the coal mine site was inadequate, and there were still 105 people working underground before the fire was difficult to control and orders to evacuate all personnel were issued.
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According to a previous report by Pengpai News, on May 11th, Henan Dayou Energy Co., Ltd. reported that a high-temperature fire occurred at its Gengcun coal mine on May 9th. In the early morning of May 10th, the fire suddenly spread, resulting in the loss of contact of five personnel on site. CCTV News reported on May 12th that the five missing individuals were all employees of the Gengcun coal mine in Henan Province. After expert assessment, there is no possibility of survival. When the National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau reported recent accidents that month, it was reported that the Gengcun coal mine fire accident caused 5 deaths.
The notice from the National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau on September 22 introduced the accident process and causes.
Gengcun Coal Mine is affiliated with Henan Dayou Energy Co., Ltd., with complete certificates and normal production. The approved production capacity of the mine is 3.6 million tons per year, with 2-3 coal seams being the main mining. The coal seam has a tendency level of Class II spontaneous combustion. The mine has 12 mining areas and 13 mining areas, and the accident occurred in the return air connecting roadway of the water tank pump room in the middle of the 13 mining area.
The direct cause of the accident was: the broken coal body around the regulating air window of the return air contact roadway in the middle water tank pump room of the 13th mining area spontaneously ignited, and the fire developed to the return air of the 13th mining area descending the mountain, igniting the wooden backboard and broken coal body in the roadway, and rapidly spreading along the return air side, forming a relatively large wind pressure, causing the airflow to reverse and disorder. High temperature smoke and high concentration CO blocked the escape passage, resulting in the death of 5 people.
The main problems exposed by the accident:
1. Coal mine fire prevention and extinguishing work is just a formality. Gengcun Coal Mine did not recognize the potential risk of natural fire in the dedicated return air coal roadway, and safety risk identification and fire prevention measures did not reflect the relevant content of coal roadway fire prevention and control. No natural fire hazards were found at the accident site, and anchor spraying was not carried out in the accident area roadway, and sufficient fire extinguishing equipment was not equipped.
2. The coal mine safety monitoring system is virtually non-existent. The safety monitoring system of the mine did not detect any changes in the initial and developmental stages of coal seam spontaneous combustion, and none of the 10 CO sensors related to it reported any alarms. The accident investigation found that the safety monitoring system of the mine mistakenly identified the instantaneous exceeding of the CO sensor as a fault power outage, which is not a valid monitoring value and does not display data, resulting in the underground CO concentration exceeding the limit without an alarm.
3. The coal mine did not report accidents in a timely manner. The mine did not report a fire underground and organized its own firefighting efforts. After the disaster spread and it was confirmed that 5 people were trapped, the accident was not reported in a timely manner. It was not until 5 people were trapped for more than 6 hours that the mine reported the accident to the relevant government departments. After being summoned by Gengcun Coal Mine, the Second Squadron of Yimei Company's Rescue Brigade did not report to the competent unit or higher-level rescue management department.
4. Poor emergency response at the coal mine site. After the discovery of a fire in the mine, the speed and scope of fire development and spread were not accurately analyzed and determined, and the risks of using water pipes to directly extinguish the fire were not recognized. Corresponding safety technical prevention measures were not taken. After the disaster expanded, personnel from the threatened area were not evacuated in a timely manner and continued to take risks in organizing operations. Before the fire became difficult to control and orders were issued to evacuate all personnel underground, there were still 105 people working underground.
5. Inadequate implementation of management responsibilities by higher-level enterprises. Yimei Company and Dayou Energy failed to strictly fulfill their safety management responsibilities, failed to inspect the incomplete "one access and three prevention" management system of Gengcun Coal Mine, and did not strictly review the underground fire prevention and extinguishing measures of Gengcun Coal Mine. They did not carefully supervise Gengcun Coal Mine to carry out comprehensive self inspection and self improvement, and failed to investigate and manage the natural fire hazards and serious defects in the safety monitoring system of Gengcun Coal Mine. Failure to urge Gengcun Coal Mine to report accidents in a timely manner, and failure to issue instructions to evacuate personnel from threatened areas in a timely manner.
Investigation and handling situation:
A total of 17 relevant responsible personnel were held accountable and provided with handling suggestions. Among them, the Party Secretary, Chairman, and Secretary of the Dayou Energy Party Committee of Yimei Company were given an internal warning, and six individuals, including the General Manager and Dayou Energy Chairman, Chief Engineer, Deputy General Manager and Director of the Safety Supervision Bureau, Party Committee Member and Dayou Energy General Manager, Deputy Chief Engineer and Dayou Energy Chief Engineer, and Deputy Chief Engineer and Minister of Dayou Energy Ventilation Department, were given internal warnings, major administrative demerits, and demerits. The Secretary of the Party Committee of Gengcun Coal Mine shall be punished with revocation of his/her party position, the Mine Manager and Chief Engineer shall be given a serious warning within the Party, and administrative dismissal shall be imposed. Both the Secretary of the Party Committee and the Mine Manager shall be fined 140% of their annual income from the previous year. From the date of revocation of his/her party position or administrative dismissal, he/she shall not serve as the main person in charge of any production and operation unit for five years; Seven individuals, including the Deputy Director of Production, Deputy Director of Safety, Deputy Chief Engineer and Director of Ventilation Department, Deputy Chief Engineer and Director of Dispatching Room, Deputy Director of Dispatching Room, Secretary of Party Branch of Ventilation Team, and Team Leader of Gengcun Coal Mine, have been suggested to be given serious warnings, warnings, demotion of government affairs, and major demerits within the Party. Among them, the Chief Engineer, Deputy Director of Production, and Deputy Director of Safety have all been fined 20% of their annual income from the previous year. At the same time, the safety production knowledge and management ability assessment certificate of the personnel responsible for the above accidents shall be suspended or revoked.
A fine of 2.03 million yuan was imposed on Gengcun Coal Mine, and the safety production license was temporarily withheld; Instruct the Mianchi County Government and the Sanmenxia Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology to conduct a written inspection to the Sanmenxia Municipal Government.
