The 2005 Southwest Regional Mine Rescue Contest
Carlsbad, New Mexico
April 6–8, 2005

Testing Their Life-Saving Skills
By Erin Green, Staff Writer
Carlsbad Current-Argus
April 10, 2005, 12:35 am

CARLSBAD — Miners hope to never have to use the skills they practiced Thursday and Friday, but they just may save lives if they do.

Workers from Mosaic, Intrepid and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant participated in the annual Southwestern Regional Mine Rescue Competition at the Pecos River Village Conference Center.

The event was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Southwestern Region Mine Rescue Association.

"These contests test the skills of mine rescue teams in a simulated mine emergency environment," said David G. Dye, acting assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, in a press release. "Naturally, we hope those skills will never be needed, but their fellow miners can feel confident knowing that, even in competition, mine rescue team members demand of themselves the highest standards in mine safety."

The contest consists of several events, including Friday’s first aid competition, in which five teams of three members each competed at stations where they demonstrated their knowledge of rescue breathing, CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. Other stations required workers to demonstrate knowledge of identifying injuries and treating various types of injuries.

Mosaic underground machinist Michael Ackman, who has been with the company for more than four years, said he finds the competition exciting.

"It's a good learning experience," Ackman said after performing the rescue-breathing portion of the contest. "It keeps us up on new things, and we get to meet and work with other teams."

He was working with teammates Heath Nesbit and John Hernandez, who were new to the competition last year. He said they have learned from each other and he feels they have done well.

One of the two men judging the team was Jim Murray, from the University of Texas in Austin, who said he found the teams were doing well.

"The'’re trained to a national standard, and we have judge’s discount sheets," he said. "The ones with the fewest discounts wins."

He said the teams use Brady's First Responder, a nationally recognized text for emergency medicine and first aid, to train employees. He said he liked what he saw during the contests.

"As far as I've observed, they're doing really well,” Murray said.

But the first aid portion was only part of the two-day competition. On Thursday, the teams participated in a field competition in which they were required to solve a hypothetical mine emergency problem. The teams were judged according to how well they adhered to mine rescue procedures and how quickly they performed specific tasks.

They also took part in bench contests, in which team members must inspect breathing apparatus and gas equipment and correct any defects as quickly as possible.

The event included participants from New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. A national event takes place Reno, Nevada.