Mine Rescue Performance Evaluations

Mine Rescue Evaluation is held yearly at convention. Six to 10 teams work on various scenarios and are evaluated based on the skill of their team. It is an excellent opportunity to learn rescue and safety from professional evaluators as well as other teams.

The purpose of the mine rescue evaluation program is to provide an opportunity for mine rescue teams to learn new skills and improve their existing ones in a non-competitive environment. Several "disaster" scenarios are held where the teams are called upon to exhibit their life-saving abilities. The evaluators offer suggestions, both verbal and written, to help the teams better understand the situations presented them. This non-competitive environment allows the teams to work together and share their knowledge with fellow mine rescue teams providing everyone with a positive learning experience.

More information regarding mine evaluations can be found in the Annual Minutes found under Meetings.

2008 Mine Rescue Evaluations

Date: June 2008
Location: The Canyons Resort - Park City, Utah

2007 Mine Rescue Recap

Sponsored by The North American Coal Corporation

This year eight teams participated in the evaluation: BHP Billiton-San Juan, Dakota Westmoreland, Falkirk Mining, PPL Montana, Rio Tinto Energy America - MERT, Solvay Chemicals, Inc., Texas Westmoreland, and Western Energy. Our evaluators were: David Evans-RMCMI Mine Rescue Chair, Cheryl Evans-RMCMI Mine Rescue Co-Chair, Bill Brown, Terry Davis, Brad Holligan, Marland King, Todd Olmstead, Robert Paslay, and Glen Ratliff, with assistance from Donna Jones and Charles Pankonien.

Saturday morning all of the teams participated in the Short Course titled "Confined Space-Hotwork". The afternoon found all of the teams outside for the Mine Rescue Rodeo, a three-year old event that mixes the team members. They then participated in various skill tasks to see how they do with unfamiliar team support members.

Individual evaluations were also held and each member was assessed on his/her skills. Each team received a trophy.

A "Thank You for Your Support" luncheon was held for all rescue team members and their families, sponsored by Westmoreland Coal Company.

A sincere thank you was offered to the evaluators, the teams and their families, the victims, the Mine Managers and everyone who helped make this program successful.