The MERITS Program

As mines become safer and disasters fewer, a time may come when there are no employees working in the mining industry with practical experience in managing a mine emergency. To fill an emerging gap in mine emergency response training, a multi-disciplinary team of training researchers and computer programmers at the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory developed an intervention for mining personnel who would be in leadership positions in a command center during emergencies. The result is MERITS, an interactive, computer-based emergency simulation exercise.

MERITS is an extension of previous work that compiled knowledge relevant to mine disaster management via interviews, analysis of literature, reviews of past events, and observations of mock mine disasters. That research revealed a need for an alternative method of command center training. This new computer simulation is being used to train emergency command center personnel to effectively manage an underground mine emergency. Modeled after training simulations developed for other industries (to address nuclear accidents, chemical spills, evacuations, etc.), MERITS simulates underground and surface events related to the disaster. It exposes the user to events that typically occur during a mine emergency, such as lack of information and miscommunication. It also presents trainees with issues that must be addressed, such as making provisions for briefing news media and victims’ families, ordering needed supplies, interfacing with enforcement agencies, and housing mine rescue teams. The outcome of the scenario depends on the users’ decisions and emergency response plans.