The State Administration of Coal Mine Safety recently issued a notice on conducting a special safety inspection of air compressors in coal mines. The notice emphasized that for mines that are still using vane air compressors underground, they must be ordered to stop production immediately, remove the air compressors to the ground for storage or scrapping within a time limit, and temporarily withhold their safety production licenses.
The notice stated that in order to conscientiously implement the "Seven Provisions on Coal Mine Managers to Protect the Life Safety of Miners", comprehensively eliminate vane air compressors (hereinafter referred to as air compressors) and air compressor products that do not have safety guarantees, investigate the hidden dangers of underground air compressor accidents, comprehensively strengthen the procurement, installation, use, maintenance, testing and safety management of underground air compressors, and effectively prevent and curb safety accidents caused by underground air compressors in coal mines, the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety decided to carry out a special safety inspection of underground air compressors in coal mines.
The notice pointed out that the inspection scope includes all coal mines (including newly built, expanded, integrated technical transformation, and suspended coal mines) underground air compressors in the country. The inspection content and methods include whether there are vane air compressors that are expressly prohibited from use; whether the purchase and selection meet the requirements; whether the installation and acceptance meet the requirements; whether the use, management and maintenance meet the requirements; and whether the rules and regulations are fully implemented.
The notice stated that the special inspection will start in mid-March 2013 and end in mid-June, and will be carried out in three stages. Arrangement and deployment (mid-March to the end of March); comprehensive inspection (early April to the end of May); summary (early June to mid-June).
The notice emphasized that the supervision and law enforcement, supervision and guidance should be strengthened. Major hidden dangers and violations of regulations found in the special inspection should be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations. Mines that are still using vane air compressors underground must be ordered to stop production immediately, and the air compressors must be removed to the ground for storage or scrapping within a time limit, and their safety production licenses must be temporarily withheld; after the rectification is completed and the coal mine safety supervision and inspection departments jointly review and accept the qualified, the safety production license can be returned and production can be resumed.
In response to the problems found in the special inspections, all localities should, based on local conditions, formulate measures to restrict and eliminate underground air compressors in coal mines, and promote coal mining enterprises to establish and improve safety management systems covering air compressor procurement and selection, installation and acceptance, use and maintenance, testing and inspection, personnel training, and technical data preservation, and establish a ledger for each air compressor in use.