Continued cooperation between the State Mining Authority and the Technical Supervision Authority

On Monday, 15 November, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the State Mining Authority between the President of the State Mining Authority, Adam Mirek, and the Vice-President of the State Mining Authority, Piotr Wojtacha, and the President of the Office of Technical Inspection (UDT), Andrzej Ziółkowski, as well as the Director of the Field Division of the UDT in Katowice - Marek Ćmiel.

At the meeting the following issues were discussed: issues concerning cooperation between these offices, as well as the initiation of activities aimed at raising the professional qualifications of users of technical equipment and popularising issues related to their safe operation  in mining plants. 

During the meeting, in recognition of his merits and for many years of constructive cooperation with the Office of Technical Inspection, both at the central and local level, the President of the State Mining Authority awarded Andrzej Ziółkowski, the President of the Office of Technical Inspection, and Marek Ćmiel, the Director of the Local Branch of the Office of Technical Inspection in Katowice, with the badge of honour for his contribution to safety in mining.

The Badge of Honour for Distinguished Service to Safety in Mining shall be conferred by the President of the State Mining Authority in recognition of special merits for safety in mining in the area of activities aimed at the improvement of safety, particularly with respect to designing, introducing and popularising new technical solutions and research work concerning those solutions. The badge may be awarded to the same person only once.

Already in 2007, an agreement was concluded between the President of the Office of Technical Inspection and the President of the State Mining Authority on joint arrangements covering cooperation in the execution of the tasks assigned to them in the Technical Inspection Act and the Geological and Mining Law. Act of 9 June 2011. - The Geological and Mining Law, which came into force at the beginning of 2012, indicated the need to update the said Agreement, which was done on 26 February 2013 in order to establish effective mechanisms to ensure the efficiency of activities aimed at eliminating threats to life, health, property and the environment. 

Since then, cyclical meetings have been held between representatives of the two bodies at central and local level, covering in particular: the exchange of experience on the safety of technical equipment and the assessment of the safe operation of technical equipment at mining plants. In addition, an analysis was carried out of the circumstances,  causes and effects of hazardous events and failures of selected technical equipment in order to develop the best possible preventive solutions for the future.