Condition of Miners' Air Packs Disputed (Feds cover selves/mine owner)

[underpants]

Don't miss the comment about Janet Jackson from Rep.Miller (D-Ca.)

Boy they couldn't rush out to cover for this fast enough could they? :grr:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_on_re_us/mine_explosion

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. - Federal regulators are scrambling to reassure the nation's 42,000 coal miners that the air packs they rely on in an emergency will work, even though the sole survivor of the Sago Mine disaster says four of his crew's devices malfunctioned.

Congressmen and some of the Sago victims' relatives, meanwhile, are calling on government to upgrade air packs and require the use of tracking devices and communication systems to make sure West Virginia's heartache is never repeated.

Mine owner International Coal Group Inc. said federal investigators tested the miners' air packs — also known as self-contained self-rescue devices, or SCSRs — and found no evidence any of them malfunctioned.

Dirk Fillpot, spokesman with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, confirmed that the agency and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health examined all the air packs recovered from the mine.

The Bush administration is reviewing air packs and other safety equipment used in the nation's mines after previously scrapping similar initiatives started by the Clinton administration.

[Lasher]

1. Nobody believes the coal company or the federal regulators

Nobody thinks Randal McCloy is lying.

[acmejack]

3. Why would he?

Why would they die if the packs worked? Duh? McCloy has a hell of a lot more credibility than Sago or MSHA.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Oh, I get it (sarcasm):

The air packs issued to the four dead miners were in perfect working order. Therefore, the miners must have died either because:

A. They were suicidal

B. They didn't know how to operate the packs or didn't follow procedures

C. They panicked and could not use the packs or

D. They deferred their use as they trusted the mine owners to rescue them before their oxygen would run out

Yeah, right. Uh huh. (More sarcasm)

[underpants]

4. Yeah that was what I got out of it

Basically they said "It was their own fault"

Nice.

I am guessing (just guessing) but OSHA giving them clearance will at least dissipate any lawsuit settlement.

*sigh* the role of government is exactly opposite of what it is supposed to be.

[rkc3]

5. That's the MO for these fucks. Nothing they do is their fault.

And if you happen to lose your job, your home, or your life - it's because you're an idiot or you deserved it.

Compassionate christians my ass.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Yesterday there was a story about how poorly OSHA was performing

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2250217&mesg_id=2250217

Then today we see how poorly this agency is performing. Not just that but that life saving initiatives were SCRAPPED!

Bush really is Hoover.

I remember a similar situation when George Deukmejian was governor of California. He decided to scrap Cal Osha and rely on the feds. The headlines boasted that even with scrapping Cal Osha, there was only one more death that year than with Cal Osha. Some comfort that must have been to the last family to lose a loved one that year.

Things like this need to be remembered for the mid terms and for the debates and worked in somehow.

[DS1]

7. I think we could all use a self-contained self-rescue device these days

Something that rockets us to Europe or Canada :eyes:

[Fierce]

8. Yep, them unions,

...so irrelevant nowadays.