Washington, Oct 29 -
CANNON SUPPORTS MINER TRACKING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENTS
WASHINGTON DC – Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT), released the following statement after HR 3877, of which Rep. Cannon is an original co-sponsor, passed the House. HR 3877 would require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish an initiative to promote the research, development, and demonstration of miner tracking and communications systems and to promote the establishment of standards regarding underground communications to protect miners in the United States.
“One of the harshest lessons learned from the Crandall Canyon tragedy was that a system of tracking, communicating, and locating miners is integral to mine safety. This public-private partnership will encourage commercially viable communication and tracking systems are developed quickly. I continue to push for the elimination of useless or burdensome government regulations that lengthen the process for implementing new safety systems.”
The new systems considered for development would have the following characteristics:
(1) Systems that are likely to work in emergency situations.
(2) Systems that work in coal mines, with special attention paid to deep underground coal mines.
(3) Systems that provide coverage throughout all areas of the mine.
(4) Hybrid systems that use both wireless and infrastructure based systems.
(5) Functionality for 2-way and voice communications.
(6) Systems that serve emergency and routine communications needs.
(7) The ability to work with existing legacy systems and to be quickly integrated.
