Mining Product: Escape From Farmington No. 9: An Oral History

This training module can be used to educate both inexperienced and veteran miners on important issues related to self-rescue and escape procedures.

On November 20, 1968 a massive explosion rocked the underground workings of Mountaineer Coal Company's Farmington No. 9 Mine in West Virginia. Of the 99 miners who were working in the mine at the time of the explosion, only 21 survived. This group included eight miners who were rescued from the Mahan's Run air shaft. Nearly 40 years after the event, NIOSH researchers conducted oral history interviews with two of the eight survivors rescued from the shaft.

Using excerpts from these interviews, NIOSH has developed a training module to educate both inexperienced and veteran miners on important issues related to self-rescue and escape procedures. The 25-minute video and instructor's guide are designed primarily for use in safety training settings. The target audience is all underground mine workers, regardless of commodity. This training module should help safety instructors better prepare miners for the situations they could encounter should they have to escape an underground mine following an explosion or fire.

The YouTube video, a zip file containing the WMV video file and SRT captions file, and the orderable DVD are available.

Skills reviewed: The trainee will be able to better respond should an explosion occur.
Duration: This video is 25 minutes in duration. A full training session (following the instructor's guide) will take approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.

Materials required

• Video - YouTube
• Escape From Farmington No. 9: An Oral History: Instructor's Guide and Additional Information