The Tag-in/Tag-out Board
Critical Importance of a Check-in System - Download and share
The Hazard
WSN would like to stress the importance of following company procedures in relation to the use of the Tag-in/Tag-out boards.
The implications of not knowing how many people are underground, or who they are, is vast. Each tag represents a human life. In day-to-day operations, the tag board ensures a central blast can take place without exposing workers to high-risk hazards that include oxygen deficiency, gases and blast concussions. In the event of an emergency situation, it provides a method to ensure all workers are accounted for, and may trigger the deployment of mine rescue teams for missing workers
Prevention
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Every mine must ensure they have a procedure to record every person who enters the underground environment. In Ontario’s mines, this recording procedure is most frequently done through the Tag-in/Tag-out board.
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Every person entering the underground operations must ensure they have placed their personal tag on the tag board before descending underground. As an additional check and balance, the supervisor is to check the tag board to confirm the tags on the board match the supervisor’s assignment list. Discrepancies require immediate attention. Every person that reaches surface must ensure they remove their personal tag from the tag board, again their supervisor is to ensure they have done so. The supervisor in charge of the central blast has the responsibility to ensure the tag board is cleared before allowing the blast. This is to ensure no one has been left unaccounted for.
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This Tag-in/Tag-out system cannot be taken lightly. Lives depend on the system being used accurately and consistently.
Regulations
Regulation 854, Mines and Mining Plants, Section 62, states: “A procedure shall be established and maintained at an underground mine to record every worker and other person who is underground in the mine."