There are many sources of gas in underground mines including development and production blasting, strata gases, spontaneous combustion, diesel equipment, chemicals used for a wide range of functions, welding activities and fires.
It is only in relatively recent times that electronic gas monitors (or detectors) have become both safe and affordable for routine use .
In modern mines, gas monitors should be in daily use by the ventilation department as well as blasting re-entry (or clearance) crews, and are often used by drilling crews, shift supervisors, hygienists and mine rescue or fire fighting crews.
When first released, electronic gas monitors needed to be sent off-site periodically for calibration at a suitable accredited laboratory. Between calibrations, their accuracy was unknown . More recently, ‘bump testing’ and field calibration has become possible on the mine site, improving both reliability and safety as well as reducing the total number of gas monitors that need to be in use.
There has been almost an overwhelming increase in the number and sophistication of gas monitor features in recent years. This paper reports on a case study into the key criteria that ventilation practitioners should be aware of with respect to the specification and selection of the most recent gas monitoring systems, and recommends good practice for site-based operation and calibration.
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