Towards "a different kind of beauty": responses to coal-based pollution in the Witbank coalfield between 1903 and 1948.

This article assesses the changing conceptions of the environmental impact of South African coal mining in the first half of the twentieth century, with special reference to the Witbank coalfield in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The anticipated development of the emerging coal town of Witbank was founded on the growing demand for coal. As Witbank's local landscape became visibly scarred, coal-based pollution was continually challenged and redefined. In an attempt to market electricity, and appease the doubts of potential consumers, attempts were made by Escom to romanticise features of Witbank's industrialised environment. Once mines were decommissioned, they were abandoned. Coal production increased dramatically during the Second World War, which provided an economic windfall for the local electrical, steel and chemical industries, placing undue pressure on the coal industry to step up production. The severe damage caused by coal mining during this period resulted in the ecological devastation of affected landscapes. The findings of an inter-departmental committee established to conduct research during the mid-1940s revealed the gravity of coal-based pollution, and set a precedent in the way that the state conceived of the impact of industry and mining. The report of this committee was completed in the wake of the war, by which time the Witbank coalfield had become one of the most heavily polluted regions of South Africa.

Expectations training for miners using self-contained self-rescuers in escapes from underground coal mines.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health researchers conducted a study to investigate the human response issues related to wearing a self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR). The goal was to develop training to educate miners on what they could expect from their units during an escape. Subjects included miners who had experience wearing SCSRs, manufacturers, and researchers. Results identified nine key areas of concern: (1) starting the unit, (2) unit heat, (3) induction of coughing, (4) unit taste, (5) difficulty in breathing while wearing the unit, (6) quality of the air supplied, (7) nose clips, (8) goggles, and (9) the behavior of the breathing bag. In addition, researchers reviewed the literature on human response under duress. This article describes the expectations training program, which comprises the findings of the SCSR study and what is known about the normal human response in an emergency. The authors present background on SCSRs and the SCSR switchover procedure mandated in the recent federal Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, which provided the impetus for the expectations training.

[The prediction of adolescent success in mastering the job of machinery operator in underground installations at an urban vocational-technical secondary school]. / Prognozirovanie uspeshnosti osvoeniia podrostkami professii mashinista pozdemnykh ustanok v gornom SPTU.

Professiographic analysis of the labour in coal mining resulted in the model for forecast of successful vocational education for the machinists of underground installations, and allowed the differential admission to mining special vocational schools to carry out.