Miners at the Katowice Coal Holdings (KHW) will test 36 pairs of special fire-retardant undergarments that can withstand about five seconds of temperatures over 700-800 degrees Celsius.

Workers at the Wujek coillery, in southern Poland, have received 20 pairs of the undergarments – shirts with long sleeves and pants – as the mining company is attempting to provide safer working conditions following a tragic methane blast in September which killed twenty people.

The protective undergear, containing synthetic, heat-resistance aramid fibres recommended to the firm by specialists at Jozef Tuliszkowski Scientific Research Centre in Fire Protection, located in Jozefow, near Warsaw. Such undergarments are used by emergency service workers, pilots, race car drivers and astronauts.

“Tests conducted by the Institute show that the undergarments, sewn of such materials, can withstand five seconds of temperatures at about 700-800 degrees Celsius,” says KHW spokesperson Ryszard Fedorowski.

Fedorowski added that, if the miners like the undergarments, the firm will purchase several lots of the clothing, the first of which will be given to those miners working in locations most susceptible to methane combustion. (mmj)