The causes and lessons of "2·22" gas explosion disaster at Tunlan Coal Mine

SUN Ji-ping

Abstract：Analyzed the causes of "2 · 22" gas explosion disaster at Tunlan Coal Mine which led the death of 78 people. It was the breezeless condition of No. 1 crossheading at 12403 working face in the coal mine's southern No.4 panel region that made the local gas accumulated to the explosive concentration. It was the electrical switch which lost its explosion-proof ability in No.1 crossheading that ignited the gas. Some conceptions were put forward as following, none of people is safe, simplicity means reliable, large redundancy ensures safety, no death is not equal to safety, only safety guarantees no death, etc. Meanwhile, some propositions were discussed, as coal mines should improve their mechanization, informationization and automation to reduce the numbers of underground miners, to simplify the ventilation and power supply systems, to set the electrical equipments in the places with total pressure fresh airflow, to reduce the application of local fans as much as possible, to properly increase the redundancy of the systems and equipments for ventilation ,power supply, hoisting and transportation ,to reduce the middle links of the coal mine's safety supervision systems, and to adopt isolated self-rescuers in high gas concentration and coal and gas outburst mines, etc.