Personal Emergency Device
There are several systems that have been recently developed. One system is known as the PED System, where PED is an acronym for Personal Emergency Device. Initially developed after a mining disaster in Australia at Moura No. 4 Coal Mine in 1986, and further developed after the Moura No. 2 Coal Mine explosion in 1994 where the need for a communication system to survive major incidents underground was identified in the inquiries into the disasters.
PED is a one-way text paging device, with wide use in Australia, as well as installations in the United States, China, Canada, Mongolia, Chile, Tanzania, and Sweden. Australian company Mine Site Technologies began the development of PED in 1987, and it became commercially available and Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) approved in 1991. The best documented use of PED during a mine emergency is from the Willow Creek Mine Fire in 1998 in Utah, where it was able to quickly alert miners underground of the need to evacuate before toxic fumes from the fire filled the mine. Reports of this use can be seen on the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) web site at and.
Read more about this topic: Through The Earth Mine Communications
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