Mining & ExplosivesCaptain checks every breathing apparatus before the mine
Before the team goes in, every breathing apparatus has to be ready and every member fit to wear it. Each member checks their own apparatus, the team goes under oxygen with the procedure for its model, and then the captain checks every member and apparatus while a team member checks the captain's. It is how every problem starts under the MSHA mine rescue contest rules.
Free to startScenarios
- Draeger BG-4 or Pro-Air apparatus: filled cylinder, fresh soda lime pack and ice block in the breathing air cooler.
- BioPak 240R apparatus: maintenance tag less than one year old, frozen coolant canisters, wet sponges and dated CO2 absorbent cartridges.
- A shoulder or chest strap twisted or unfastened when the team goes under oxygen.
The steps
- Before reporting to the field, each member checks their own apparatus: charged properly, within the manufacturer's limits and the regenerator fully charged with chemicals.
- Check the other materials: roof testing devices, stretchers, hammers, blankets, fire extinguishers, gas detectors and the horns; the portable communication system goes with the team.
- Report with every apparatus fully assembled and ready to wear, plus protective hat, identification, safety shoes, permissible cap lamp and a clean shave where the face-piece seals.
- Don the apparatus and adjust the harness, shoulder, waist and chest straps: none twisted or unfastened.
- Put on the face-piece chin first, tighten the chin straps, then the temple straps, then the top strap, and open the cylinder valve fully.
- Read the pressure gauge for enough oxygen and test the seal: close the breathing hose and inhale until the face-piece collapses against the face.
- The captain checks each member and apparatus and asks if they are all right; a team member does the same for the captain.
- Count off before entering the mine.
Safety rules that stop the station
- No apparatus goes in without soda lime or outside the manufacturer's life critical specifications.
- A worn breathing hose or strap is replaced before the team starts work in the mine.
- Each member wears their own approved apparatus, rated for at least four hours.
To pass
- An apparatus with no soda lime costs 100 points; worn or dangerous parts 8 per person; a beard that breaks the seal 15.
- A missed captain's check costs 2 per apparatus, each badly adjusted strap 1, a wrong procedure going under oxygen 3 per person.
- Every member under oxygen, checked and asked if they are all right before entering the mine.
Official source
2026 Metal and Nonmetal Mine Rescue Contest Rules
MSHA's mine rescue contest rules list the apparatus checks, the steps for going under oxygen with each apparatus and every surface discount.
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