Page 42 maintenance crews working on the 800ton orebin more than 100metres overhead were about to test their repair assignments Coroner Dr Alex Huckowich de scribed what happened in un imaginable detail As the young man worked on fxing the railing repair crews overhead released the 800ton orebin and sent it downward The distance between the steel bin s massive frame and the oreshaft averages no more than 6inches As it plumme ted down the shaft in a split second it caught his lan yard instantly dragging his six footfour frame into a small gap Less than onethird of his remains were recoverable That horrifc incident snufed the life out of a young man quicker than the blink of an eye The im pact for mine rescue personnel however can last years Not every mine rescue operation is indeed a rescue The guidelines established by the US Bureau of Mines and adopted over time by other jurisdictions By Kevin V incent While outsiders may marvel at the training expertise and bravery of mine rescue personnel the hu man cost and impact of recovery missions can be both breathtaking and heartbreaking In the late 1980 s for example mine rescue personnel were en gaged to recover the body of a young miner killed at the Kidd Creek Mine in T immins At the coroner s inquest into the tragedy it was revealed the young man was somewhere he wasnt supposed to be He was part of a team of maintenance individu als assigned to various projects throughout the mine On the day he was killed he took it upon him self to repair a railing in a stope that was adjacent to the north skip That skip was under repairs that day Noone was supposed to be where he was His enthusiasm to show his supervisors selfinitia tive cost him his life He attached his twoinch waist lanyard to a railing that stretched across the corner of the orebin s shaft Unbeknownst to him the around the world including On tario are a stark reminder of the kind of gutwrenching work that mine rescue are faced with no diferent than the work of police of fcers and fre rescue personnel we have commonly come to know as First Responders Mine rescue personnel are given guidance such as the following One consequence of humanitar ian and recovery operations is coming in contact with bodies of people that have died under tragic or horrible circumstances Y ou may be assigned the mission of recovering processing and per haps burying human remains Y ou can complete the operation proud of what you have done and return to your usual duties career and family life without being unduly troubled by the memories even when those memories include some very sad unpleasan t or dis tressing details Rescue operations person nel of ten say this is harder to adapt to because of the difculty in forming Preparing for tragedy as a frst responder Page 40