The Karviná Mining Plant has its own safety-oriented TV broadcasting

KARVINÁ MINING PLANT – A special TV broadcasting, which all employees should spend some time watching either before or after the shift, is available at the ČSA and Lazy Mines of the Karviná Mining Plant. Its 106cm plasma screens, which are strategically placed close to vending machines located before the gates to the shaft, show the company’s own safety-focused programmes, which are broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“The programmes are regularly changed and updated, they react to the situation in the mine and are directly related to tasks for the week or the safety slogan of the week,” say safety officers Zdeněk Zeithammel and Jaroslav Vlach, whose computer located in an office at the Lazy Mine feeds the TV signal to the screens. Their counterparts at the ČSA use basically the same arrangement, but tailored to local conditions. The programme was developed by Ing. Stanislav Kuba, an employee of the ČSA Mine.

The system has been used for close to two months now, and one can see the men are interested. “Let’s have a cup of coffee and have a look at it, it can’t do any harm, can it?” admit the miners. As a matter of fact, they may themselves on the screen – if, for example, their helmets were not properly marked. They were filmed as a bad example when going down the shaft and off with them to the programme! However, their consent was required to show them on the screen.

The broadcast at the Lazy Mine also paid attention to respirators, or rather neglecting the need to make a proper logbook entry as the miners retrieve them. In other cases, the programme deals with a risk of a mine engine fire or proper operation of belt conveyors. There’s also a first aid training course – e.g. how to bring to an unconscious fellow worker. With a soundtrack, of course. The safety officers claim that there are plenty of topics to be covered.

(Radek Lukša)