Dräger will be the title sponsor of Canada’s Inaugural Mine Rescue Competition. Hosted by the University of British Columbia (UBC) with support from the University of Alberta and Laurentian University, the competition will be held from February 21 – 22, 2020 and will have five, high-spirited and competitive challenges for mine engineering students from around the world to test their skills.
“Safety and preparedness is crucial to the mining industry and we encourage professional development at every stage of a mine safety engineer’s career,” said Rob Clark, managing director at Dräger Canada. “By supporting mine rescue engineering students and competitions like these, we’re encouraging school-supplier-industry partnerships that help reinforce and strengthen our industry not only in Canada but around the world.”
Real-world situations
The competition itself is modeled after the US International Mine Emergency and Response Development Competition hosted by the Colorado School of Mines and the professional competitions hosted by the British Columbia Ministry of Energy.
Challenges will test students’ abilities in real-world situations with scenarios such as underground obstacle and recovery, triage first aid, firefighting skills, Dräger BG4 bench test and a written exam.
“Having such great sponsors like Dräger means everything to us because it shows the industry is ready to support competitions like these in Canada,” said Jillian Newell, founder and project team lead, Canada’s Inaugural Student Mine Rescue Competition. “We’ve been able to develop and host a competition that is not only going to be a success but will encourage other universities with mining programs to build their own student teams and compete. Canada has a rich mining history and we’re ready to show the mining world how great Canadian mining is.”
Live fire training system
In addition to supplying equipment for the BG4 bench test segment of the competition, Dräger will also provide a full-size eight-person refuge chamber and a propane-fueled live fire-training system with a prop vehicle to offer students practical experience in preparing and dealing with mine emergencies.
“We’ve supported competitions like this in the United States so when the opportunity came up to sponsor Canada’s first competition we were more than ready to get involved,” said Kent Armstrong, global business development manager segment mining, Dräger Canada. “Helping to prepare mine engineering students for real-world scenarios is important for not only their education but for their careers going forward. It’s great to be able to offer that kind of experience in a controlled environment and we look forward to continuing to support mine education and schools in Canada.”