Tagging Off

My husband works in a mine on the north west coast of Tasmania. He is part of the service crew which run essential services through the mine for further exploration, things like water, electrics and water lines.

The service crew tend to work in places where noone really wants to go until it is ready, the work is heavy manual labour, hot and long 12 hour shifts. But I think there must be a real sense of community within the mine because Sam seems to love it.

This morning is the last day of his shift, he has a great roster, one week on day shift Monday to Friday followed by one week on night shift from Monday to Thursday, so while we miss him when he is away having him home every weekend is great.

When they finish a shift they have to tag off, this lets all the shift bosses know at a glance who is should/shouldnt be still under ground, I guess when you are working anywhere up to 6kms underground anything can happen.

This morning Sam didnt tag off.

Fortunately I quickly KNEW he was ok, as he had already sent a message saying he was on his way home to the girls and I (oh the wonder of modern technology), but just for a moment my stomach was churning.