Agency sets new rules for safety in coal mines

China's top workplace safety regulator is introducing national standards for sand and granite quarries act kenyasafety technologies used in the country's accident-plagued coal mines

A set of four standards on polymeric materials used for coal mining safety will take effect on Dec 1, according to the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS). The standards are related to the prevention of coal mine accidents, including methane gas blasts, underground floods and shaft collapses, by using high-technology polymeric materials, Jiang Zhimin, the secretary-general of the China National Coal Association, said on Sunday at a conference to introduce the standards. Polymeric materials, a group of chemical compounds that are in liquid or foam states, are mainly used for four functions that are covered by the standards: water shut-off, filling and sealing of mine structures, ventilation sealing and consolidation of coal and rock. The four functions are related to the prevention of mine floods, shaft collapses and fire accidents. Introduced in China from Western countries in the 1970s, these chemicals have found widespread use in...