HZL beefs up safety measures for underground mine workers

Vedanta Group company Hindustan Zinc (HZL) has installed 'refuge chambers' inside its underground mines in Rajasthan in a bid to provide safety to workers in case of any eventuality.
"In case of emergency situations like fire, rock fall and blockage of escape routes among others in the underground mines, refuge chambers, constructed with a robust 6 mm steel plate, provide a place of safe refuge with fresh air to the employees.
"Employees in the mines, can immediately take refuge in the refuge chamber which is designed to provide life support system up to 36 hours," the company said.
There are about 14,000 employees at HZL including contract workers, while the company has a metal production capacity of one million tonne per annum.

These refuge chambers built at an estimated cost of Rs four crore have in-built oxygen supply and carbon-dioxide absorbing system besides having facilities like toilet, air conditioning, escape hatch with external access handles, indicating lights or strobe and siren, to indicate emergency situation.
Keeping in view the workers safety, the company said the chambers contain basic first aid kits, stretchers and eye washes and are connected to mine power supply, adding that in case of stoppage of mine power, these have electrical battery backup system.

Hindustan Zinc has its own captive power-plants that supply uninterrupted power to all its locations.

"So far Hindustan Zinc has installed seven such refuge chambers in its underground mines located at Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd and Kayad in Rajasthan. While four refuge chamber have been installed at Rampura Agucha mine in Bhilwara, two have been installed at Sindesar Khurd mine in Rajsamand and one at Kayad mine in Ajmer," company spokesperson Pavan Kaushik said.
HZL is looking to install two more refuge chambers in mines and each such chamber can provide safety to 6 to 20 persons, he said.
"Hindustan Zinc is the first company to introduce refuge chambers as part of mine safety in India," he added.