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The first recorded history of mining in India dates back to 1774, when an
English Company was granted permission by the East India Company for mining coal
in Raniganj. However, mining in India remained a primitive activity until the
1900s when the first Mines Act was incorporated in 1901, but the safety of
miners continued to be a concern area. The erstwhile ignorant Indian public got
a peek into the dangers associated with the job of a miner in Amitabh Bachhans
all time hit Kala Patthar. It is based on a mining accident where miners are
trapped inside a mine, the movie brought to the fore the inhuman and life
threatening working conditions of the miners.
Over the years the percentage of mine-related incidents have definitely come
down. However, in spite of preventive measures, accidents do occur, though
infrequently, either due to human error or equipment failure. Disaster
management plans have now become a must to mitigate the consequences of an
accident. One of the major components of safety management is risk management
and assessment. Quick and accurate information, synthesis and evaluation of
numerous technical data constitute an important component of safety management
in mines. In order to effectively use information technology for these tasks,
the Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) rolled out a computer-based Indian
Mine Safety Information System (IMSIS) recently.
The Genesis
Originally conceived and prototyped under the joint ambit of the Ministry of
Labor & Employment and the US Department of Labor on Indian Coal Mines Safety
and Health, the project was put to rigorous field testing in the offices of the
Central Zone of DGMS since 2004. During the testing phase, the need for
developing a radically different database architecture to address the unique
requirements of regulatory management systems, particularly in the context of
the complex and dynamic nature of mining operations was felt.
The key challenge of framing a suitable database architecture capable of
handling the rapidly changing entity structures of regulations and entities
inside the mine was finally resolved by Infotwins Technologies, who were
originally engaged by the USDOL Project to develop IMSIS.
After Infotwins had developed a new innovative architecture, DGMS, along with
Ministry of Labor & Employment, assumed full ownership of the project in 2007-08
and engaged Infotwins to redevelop IMSIS. After successful completion of
redevelopment in June 2008, it was implemented in all the offices of DGMS
connected with coal mines located at Dhanbad, Sitrampur, Ranchi, Koderma,
Bhubaneshwar, Nagpur, Jabalpur, Bilaspur and Hyderabad.
The project seeks to introduce e-governance in mine related activities of
DGMS. Built on open source code platform, IMSIS is helping DGMS by creating a
multi-dimensional database with data mining capabilities including generating
standardized inspection reports, says Jeyaseelan, CEO Infotwins. The software
also provides computerized regulatory compliance monitoring with in-built alerts
for timely follow ups.
Comprising of about five officers under the guidance of Sharma, the core team
deliberated for six years in consultation with Infotwins. Currently IMSIS is
being rolled out in three out of the six zones namely Central, East and Southern
zones, and is expected to be completed by the end of this year while the
remaining three zones would be completed by 2010.
The online version of IMSIS is currently operational in the central server
located at Vikas Bhavan, DGMS HQ, Dhanbad while the offline version is installed
in the laptops of DGMS inspection officials who are required to carry out
inspection of coal mines.
ITs About Mining Safely
In DGMS, a number of coal mine inspectors provide their inspection report
on key activities under different provisions of law like Coal Mines Regulation
1957, Metalipherous Mines Regulation 1961 and Mines Act 1952. However, the
manner in which he put across his observations (whether violation or citation)
and notes was unique for each inspector resulting in non-standardized report
language, says MM Sharma, director general, Mines Safety.
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Since most
reports are generated locally at twenty-two regional offices, earlier it
used to be difficult for the headquarters to access the report data
centrally. With IMSIS, officers at headquarters can now view the report once
it has been put online
MM Sharma,
director general, Mines Safety |
The need of the hour was to have standardization of formats and forms used in
inspection report language wherein every inspector is expected to write in the
same manner so that the data collected could be easily and logically summarized,
collated, compared or correlated across mines, and different regulatory
contexts, Sharma adds.
There was also the convenience of carrying out inspections by making
available all the data collected during previous inspections. The software would
create a relational database of all the inspection data including the
observations and violations identified as well as the actions taken thereon for
tracking the regulatory compliance of coal mines and understanding the risk
profiles of the mines. Under IMSIS, the process of generating inspection and
violation reports, as well as preparing violation letters and follow up
communications was also automated.
For instance, if the mine inspector goes to a mine that is in danger of
inundation and makes key observations related to water flooding, etc, it is
extremely critical that the observation language is standardized to enable
better accuracy of the report on which corrective action can be taken, Sharma
says.
Keeping into account that we are talking about safety of the miners here
where time is of essence, IMSIS also cuts down on time taken for report
generation. We have been doing mine inspection for the last 100 years now.
Earlier for each report we had to enter the data manually leading to increased
time in compiling inspection data, preparing inspection and violation report,
keeping track of the actions taken and the follow ups, says SJ Sibal, deputy
director, General Mines Safety.
Dissecting IMSIS
A user-friendly electronic governance software, IMSIS has been tailored to
meet the specific requirements of DGMS in line with its inspection functions.
The main modules of IMSIS includes a separate action module for each function
like the Data Entry Module (for registering all inspection related data in the
database); Report Generation Module (for preparing, editing and finalizing
reports); and Violation Tracker Module.
IMSIS has an online and offline version wherein the online edition running on
the main server is a secure store for all official data after submission to the
official online module, no one is allowed to make any changes in the data. The
offline version meanwhile is installed in user laptops enabling users to work
independently without the need for connectivity to the servers while out on
inspection.
Moreover, unlike the conventional filing system in which the records are
stored chronologically, under IMSIS all data entered in any particular
inspection version is automatically numbered, ordered and stored inside folders
and sub folders classified according to the subjects covered. And for each
subject covered by inspection, IMSIS provides a set of data entry forms similar
to the forms that the inspectors use in the paper based filing system. The key
difference is that unlike paper documents wherein one might write information
pertaining to multiple entities like persons or places on a single page, in
IMSIS each form is uniquely associated with a single entity.
There is also a single standardized format for all data entry forms including
standardized data entry fields and procedures across all data input forms. IMSIS
also uses standardized classified selectable parameters in order to reduce the
time taken in typing the required data as well as to maintain the uniqueness of
the data entered.
There is the facility for copying and editing a previous report in a new
report implying that all data included in the numerous forms that are part of
any previous inspection report can be copied in to any new inspection version of
any mine with all the entity relationships and notes intact.
In IMSIS, users are required only to enter the data as per the fields
provided in the forms and write qualifying notes with reference to the data
wherever necessary; the software on its own will provide for different types of
inspection reports. And based on data entered in inspection reports, IMSIS also
generates violation letters automatically and also captures all violations
pertaining to a single inspection in to a separate register. And this register
is updated every time the user opens the Violation Tracker for any Inspection
Version.
IMSIS would essentially assist in framing a standardized language in reports
simply with the click of a button, an inspector would be intimated about the
standardized language he is expected to use whether it is for violation or
citation. In addition, officers do not take much time in report generation. By
using a laptop, they can simply key in the data during the inspection and after
coming back to office, the software on its own would generate the report within
ten minutes flat, says Sharma.
Looking ahead, DGMS intends to include additional features like ARMAS
(Accident Reporting, Monitoring and Analysis System) and APSYS (Approvals &
Permissions System). For undertaking any activity at mines, mine owners have to
seek permission from DGMS, permission cases would enable online granting of
permission to such cases, says Sharma.
Moreover, since most reports are generated locally at twenty-two regional
offices, earlier it used to be difficult for the headquarters to access the
report data centrally. With IMSIS, officers at headquarters can now view the
report once it has been put online by the inspection officer.
Stuti Das
stutid@cybermedia.co.in
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