6 months after mine disaster: Why are more miners dying?
October 15, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, What do you think?, Who Got Fined and Why?, inspections
Six months ago, 29 men died in the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years. Since then, another 13 miners have died, despite a crackdown by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). What’s going on?
An article in The Washington Post points out that the 13 fatalities in the 6 months since the Upper Big Branch disaster is about the same rate of deaths as in the past 15 years.
After the Upper Big Branch explosion, MSHA increased by 20% its use of orders that require mines to close temporarily.
The agency also instituted “impact inspections,” for mines chosen because of their record of poor safety and health.
However, federal regulators still have trouble using their power to temporarily shut down mines that have a pattern of violations. That provision hasn’t been used successfully in 32 years.
Part of the problem may be the stalled appeals process for contesting MSHA fines. Companies can delay paying fines for years because the backlog of cases has grown so large.
And until the appeals process reaches its end, MSHA can’t show that previous violations constitute a pattern of violations.
MSHA recently announced new criteria that could simplify the appeals process.
“Anytime there’s a failure to connect the violation to the penalty … the enforcement effort doesn’t have the curative effect that you need to have,” Davitt McAteer, head of MSHA under President Clinton told The Post.
What do you think needs to happen for the rate of mine worker deaths to diminish? Let us know in the Comments Box below.
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October 15th, 2010 at 9:22 am
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October 19th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Arbitrators can be brought in to clean up the backlog. Appeals should be settled in less than 6 months. Second, the rules on mine closings need to be overhauled so that the mines are shut down following an accident involving safety violations and will stay shut until the company and government agree on the cause and remedy. History tells us that there is no nice way to get mine owners to follow the rules.
October 19th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
A couple of points. When a citation is issued, the condition must be fixed ASAP even if the company disagrees with the citation. Only then does the appeal process start. Check the number of citations that are appealed that are reduced or dismissed by the courts. The number is alarming. There is no protection to a company from a MSHA inspector who writes a citation that has no legal basis or is flawed and once it reaches the courts is thrown out. THe company must fix the condition at a cost, pay an attorney to take it to court and when it is dismissed, nothing. The company is guilty until they prove themselves not guilty.
As for the Massey UUB case, look at http://WWW.Masseyubb.com for some very interesting reading. MSHA declared the cause and is now trying to fit the evidence to that conclusion. Last point is track the citations that MSHA writes to injury rates. It doesn’t match. There needs to be a major overhaul of MSHA, top to bottom.