Mine safety and rescue crossed the finish line for another year, as the industry's best first responders competed for the 59th annual time.
This year's Mine Rescue and First Aid Competition was held in Smithers, this past weekend. Seventeen teams faced off in job-site rescue or first aid categories. They demonstrated their abilities in skills like fire suppression, high-angle rope setting, extrication, medical first aid, and many more. The live scenarios and written exams were grouped into three headings: Surface, Underground and Three-Person First Aid.
On top of the teams vying against each other in the standard competition, they were also split randomly into ad-hoc teams for a special event called the Mutual Aid Scramble to test for basic teamwork and co-operation skills.
The winning team in this special event was captained by Delainy Barry of Peace River Coal leading colleagues Neal Rideout, vice-captain from Highland Valley Copper; Nicholas Smith, New Gold Inc.-New Afton; Tony Mitchell, Huckleberry Mines; Jason Kallies, Greenhills Operations; and Nick Williams, Quinsam Coal Corporation.
Three of the mines near Prince George - the Gibraltar operation by Taseko in the central Cariboo, the Peace River Coal operation near Tumbler Ridge, and the Huckleberry operation by Imperial Metals in the Lakes District - were among the winners.
The victorious teams in the major categories included:
- Three-Person First Aid - Huckleberry Mines
- Surface Mine Rescue - Gibraltar Mines, Elkview Operations, Highland Valley Copper
- Underground Mine Rescue - Quinsam Coal, New Gold Inc.-New Afton, Nystar-Myra Falls
The winners in the aggregating categories were:
- Kathy Lofstrom Memorial Trophy (Best Coach for Three Person First Aid) - Dwayne Allen,
Huckleberry Mines;
- Ron Brow Memorial Trophy (Best Extrication for Surface Team) - Gibraltar Mines;
- Maurice Boisse Memorial Trophy (Best Bench for Surface Team) - Elkview Operations;
- EKMISA Trophy (Best Written for Surface Team) - Elkview Operations;
- Levitt Safety Fire Trophy (Surface) - Highland Valley Copper;
- HVC Highest Non-Aggregate Points Trophy - Elkview Operations;
- Overall Surface Mine Rescue Winner - Elkview Operations;
- Best Bench Technician Trophy - Jim Parnell, Quinsam Coal Corp.;
- USWA Mine-Mill Trophy (Best U/G Co-ordinator) - Jared Moe, New Gold Inc.-New Afton;
- Sullivan Cup (Best First Aid by U/G Team) - Nyrstar-Myra Falls;
- Barry Abbott Memorial Trophy (Best Bench for U/G Team) - Nyrstar-Myra Falls;
- Keith Bracewell Memorial Award (Best Obstacle & Recovery) - Nyrstar-Myra Falls;
- Levitt Safety Fire Trophy (Underground) - Nyrstar-Myra Falls;
- Overall Underground Mine Rescue Winner - Nyrstar-Myra Falls.
According to the provincial ministry, mines in B.C. have had dedicated rescue teams since 1909 and the first competition among mine rescue teams was in 1915. It is now a requirement for all mines and is a factor in the estimated provincial injury rate of approximately 1.4 injury claims per 100 person years worked.
