MSHA Moves Too Slowly on Mine Safety, Another Sago Possible

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/01/msha-moves-too-slowly-on-mine-safety-another-sago-possible/

MSHA Moves Too Slowly on Mine Safety, Another Sago Possible

by Mike Hall, Mar 1, 2007

Last year, after disasters killed 12 West Virginia coal miners in the Sago Mine, five Kentucky coal miners at Darby and eventually claimed 47 lives in all, Congress passed the first new mine safety legislation in decades.

But while the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006 mandates several important mine safety improvements, its implementation has been far too slow and it doesn’t go far enough to protect miners’ lives, witnesses told a Senate hearing yesterday.

The new law, says Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts:

would do little to change matters today if a mine were to experience an explosion like the one at Sago or a mine fire like the one at Alma…underground miners would likely fare no better than those who perished over one year ago.

Roberts was among those appearing yesterday before the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Also testifying: J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in the Clinton administration, Richard Stickler, President Bush’s controversial recess appointment to MSHA’s top spot and others.

Roberts says since last year’s law was passed, the Bush administration has shown no concentrated effort in addressing problems, ranging from mine rescue teams to underground communications and lack of additional oxygen units. In addition, he points to several vital safety issues the legislation didn’t address.



MSHA still allows mine operators to ventilate sections with belt air and non-flammable belts are still not required. Today, there are no requirements that operators provide systems that would enable miners to communicate with the surface or vice versa. There is nothing in place to require an operator to be able to locate trapped miners, and very few could do so. Safety chambers are not required nor are safe havens prescribed. Most operators do not have a complete approved emergency response plan as required by the MINER Act. Many miners caught in a disaster would likely have one additional hour of oxygen as opposed to early 2006, but keep in mind that it took 40 hours for the first mine rescue teams to reach the mines at Sago.

Last year’s legislation, says McAteer, was designed to address some of “most egregious shortcomings” in mine safety law.

Are the nation’s miners safer today than they were on Jan. 1, 2006? In the months since the Sago disaster much has changed, and much more is in progress, but unfortunately for the average miner, not much has improved from the day-to-day safety and health standpoint.

FULL story at link.

[Bluzmann57]

1. Ok as one who has a workplace governed by MSHA

I am going to cry foul here. The inspectors I have dealt with are very thorough. I mean any little thing. I must admit that I work above ground, but the same company which operates my plant also operates a mine across the highway and they recently got inspected with around 4 citations. There is a threat of prison time for mine operators who show blatant negligence. It has happened before, and will happen again. I am very sorry for those men in Sago and all other coal mines, but blaming MSHA for all fatalities is just wrong. Believe me, MSHA inspectors believe they are almost godlike and act accordingly when issuing citations.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I worked for MSHA for four years

That included its predecessor, MESA. That was before the current evil Republican gang in Washington, admittedly.

One problem MSHA had was intimidation of its inspectors by mine owners -- physical intimidation, including being threatened with guns and occasionally shot at. There were times when some of them had to back off for their own safety. They didn't get the support they needed from the administration (Ford and, I'm sorry to say, Carter) to counteract any of this.