Air Conditioning System in the ČSM Mine Inspected by the Regional Health Authority

STONAVA – The Czech premiere of the central air conditioning system with cooling from above (from the surface) was inspected in the CSM Mine by the Director of the Ostrava Regional Health Authority (KHS). This Authority is obliged to inspect working conditions in the mine as the integral part of the state health supervision! When coming up, Ms. Helena Šebáková did not conceal her satisfaction.

„I wanted to see, how they contribute to improvement of the mine microclimate. The whole project seems to be even much more important, when realizing that this is really not a minor investment by the OKD company. It is definitely a perfect deal,“ said M.D. Šebáková.

Ms. Šebáková was accompanied in the South by Leo Bayer, the OKD Operations Manager, Josef Kasper, the Managing Director of the mine, Karel Blahut, the Senior Plant Engineer, Petr Horák, the Senior Site Engineer and Radim Vaško, representative of the GasControl suppliers. The Senior Regional Public Health Officer inspected at first the surface central system of the whole air conditioning unit. She was interested mainly in the noise level and its impact on people. She was assured by the supplier that all values lie below the set limits.

Then they went down the mine. Ms. Šebáková did not descend for the first time. The air conditioning chamber located at the 5^th level of the site Jih (South) was the target place. „Cooling air is injected into individual workplaces from here,“ clarified Karel Blahut. In practice the temperature in the air conditioned forefields (working faces) and in individual breaking grounds was reduced by three to four degrees in average.

„I hope, they will not be sick,“ commented the KHS Director the fact that, unlike the deep-rooted belief, the miners can be even cold. „The miners, working close to the air conditioning system fans, really began to wear the coats,“ responded Blahut. It means that the miners in the alive deposits will no more have the mandatory breaks due to bad working (air conditioning) conditions and this is one of the core goals in the sector of safety of labour - improvement of the working conditions and environment. In this case a great step forwards has been done definitely.

(Radek Lukša)