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Mining & ExplosivesProtecting the survivor and carrying them out
Once the team sees or hears a miner, everything turns to getting that person out alive. The team protects them from the bad air, does the initial assessment, treats what threatens life, secures them to the stretcher and goes straight to the fresh air base, without exploring on the way out.
Free to startScenarios
- A conscious survivor who has to cross bad air.
- An unconscious survivor who cannot walk.
- Two survivors behind a barricade and protection for only one.
The steps
- Take body substance isolation precautions before touching the patient.
- Do the initial assessment: airway, breathing, circulation and immediate life threats, and treat any immediate life threat.
- To cross bad air, give the survivor an approved 4-hour apparatus or a 1-hour oxygen-generating unit; if unconscious, an approved apparatus with a full face-piece.
- If the survivor already wears a 1-hour self-rescuer (SCSR), leave it on unless it is depleted.
- With more survivors than protection, keep the openings in the barricade and the temporary stopping as small as possible while retreating.
- Secure a survivor who cannot walk to the stretcher with at least two straps, one around the trunk and one around the legs, with the hands secured if unconscious, and cover them with a blanket.
- Place them so the air hoses are not crimped; with a suspected neck or back injury under apparatus, the head still goes in the immobilizer on the backboard.
- With several patients, take the higher priority patient out first.
- Once leaving with a patient, go directly to the fresh air base: no exploring, never through unexplored areas and never leaving them alone.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Never move a survivor in any direction except toward the fresh air base.
- Never leave a survivor unattended.
- Never direct bad air over a survivor or leave them badly protected from it.
To pass
- Not bringing a live person to the fresh air base costs 50; an act that may kill or injure a survivor also costs 50.
- Moving a survivor through unexplored territory or leaving them alone costs 6; a missed assessment or an untreated life threat 4.
- Each member who touches a patient without body substance isolation counts as endangered: 15; a survivor badly secured to the stretcher 4; apparatus put on them the wrong way 5.
Official source
Federal · MSHA Mine Rescue Contest Rules 2026
2026 Metal and Nonmetal Mine Rescue Contest Rules
MSHA's mine rescue contest rules set how to protect, treat and carry out every survivor, and the discount for each failure.
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by MSHA, NASA or any mine rescue association. Agency names are named only to describe the content.