This 1970s color film produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Mines stresses the benefits of mine ventilation systems to the underground miner. Booster fans, air curtains, ventilation tubes, and other methods of avoiding unventilated “dead end” zones are introduced in dramatized safety demonstrations that warn of carbon monoxide poisoning and gas exposure (TRT: 20:24).
Snow covered mountains and coniferous trees (0:08). Opening titles: “Breathe and Live: Ventilation in Metal and Non-Metal Mines” (0:40). Exterior: A mining operation. Miners wearing safety glasses and hardhats ride a mine shaft elevator (0:55). A disgruntled miner on the subject of fresh air: “You ain’t getting it, mister, and you know it.” Another says, “When the air’s close, brother, you can tell” (1:29). A rescue team wearing respirator masks investigates the disappearance of miners in a sulfide copper mine. They find an abandoned vehicle and unconscious men. The rescuers confirm they have no pulse (2:06). In an ore mine, a drill and a hole producing water. A miner approaches. Hydrogen sulfide gas bubbles in the water. The miner recoils and runs away grabbing his eyes (3:36). A ventilation exhaust fan is under repair. Another dead body is seen near the bubbling pool. Two men go to investigate and they too succumb. Still more bodies pile up at the gas leak (4:33). Two miners work to repair a slusher. One man wanders off and doesn’t return. His unconscious body is found on a higher level of the mine (5:18). Miners suit up for work in a locker room. A manager gives a lecture to miners (6:23). An animated illustration shows a mine ventilation system’s airflow from an intake, through blasting operations to a bulkhead and an exhaust fan. A booster fan and an auxiliary fan are indicated near a cluster of miners at work (6:57). The bulkhead is damaged, and contaminated air blows to the work site (8:10). Ventilation doors, bulkheads, overcasts, and ventilation tubing are depicted (8:27). A slusherman opens a ventilation regulator. In the next airway, ventilation is disrupted (9:07). A miner opens a door labeled, “Keep this Door Closed.” Other miners tamper with vent tubing for their comfort while another man suffers (10:05). A miner turns off a fan. Later, two miners walk into “a virtual inferno” (10:49). A miner moves to a quieter area away from a fan to enjoy lunch. Men hang vent tubing and patch leaks (11:26). Idle workers wait while an area is ventilated. Miners eat lunch while blasting is done (12:22). A man wearing a mask uses a hose to wet down a blast site (13:00). Suspect narration: “The odds are 99 to 1 that you will breathe good air, shift in, shift out, week after week, year after year…” (13:19). A miner addresses the camera in closeup: “You can’t depend on your sense of feel or smell.” A miner checks an area with a flashlight. A montage of air quality measuring tools in use (13:40). A mine shaft is ventilated. A miner reports an air quality concern to his foreman (14:38). Accidents in need of reporting: A tram crashes through a bulkhead. A damaged vent tubing. An inactive fan (15:15). A foreman performs an air check (16:16). A flashing lightbulb and alarm. A detailed escape route is illustrated on a map (16:35). A miner speaks: “Asphyxiation. They say it’s like drowning. Man, I want no part of that.” A mechanically operated doorway opens for a passing vehicle (18:27). A roll-up door. A heating unit. A refrigerator unit. Evaporative cooling towers (18:56). A montage of miners crossfades to clear skies (19:35). The U.S. Department of the Interior logo and acknowledgements (19:53).
