Former Massey workers: Mine was ticking bomb
April 30, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
PDF Two workers who quit Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in the months just before the explosion that killed 29 miners say they did so because they thought it was going to blow up.
One miner who quit told NPR News, “Basically what they’ve done is created a massive bomb underground. I knew it was going to happen.”
Another miner who had worked in a section affected by the explosion said methane levels caused detectors to go off “all the time — three, four, five times a shift.”
Those interviews come in the wake of a report from Massey that says readings showed no indication of a dangerous methane gas condition just before the explosion occurred.
Massey also blames unions for spreading false information about the mine.
Teddy Cole, who worked a dozen years at Upper Big Branch, said, “It’s supposed to be safety first, but to me it was production first.”
An internal memo from Massey CEO Don Blankenship in 2005 seems to support that claim.
“If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e. — build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever) you need to ignore them and run coal,” the memo said. “This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that coal pays the bills.”
The memo became public in a lawsuit filed in the deaths of two miners at a Massey operation in 2006. A Massey subsidiary eventually pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the case.
Blankenship says the memo was taken out of context.
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Tags: killed 29 workers, Massey mine explosion, methane, safety first
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May 4th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
If they knew it was going to happen, then didn’t they feel/have a responsibility to call OSHA or WISHA and warn them, at least about the high methane levels that the detectors signaled?
May 4th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I wish we all had crystal balls, but we don’t. This is a very sad thing that happened. Heads need to roll for this one. Miners, however, know that coal mining is the most dangerous occupation in the world. God Bless the families left behind to deal with this tragedy.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Massey already had several OSHA violation citations in the past. They were already on OSHAs radar so to speak. The sad thing is that they were not shut down until the issues were resolved. This is such a sad story that could have been prevented.
May 5th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Ever hear of blacklisting/balling?
First off I am in no way condoning the actions of the two former workers that claim to have known and not said that this site was hazardous.
But there are and will always be employers that might leak that these employees went to OSHA if they actually did.
This information might in turn land on the desk of their next potential employer and have an effect.
Just a thoght…
May 11th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Humm one guy called and wrote the SEC how many times to report that Madoff was a scammer…and the gov’t swooped right in and fixed that problem…yeah right.
Sometimes you have to make a personal choice and walk away from the job. They have a responsibility to themselves and their families before thinking about calling a govt hotline. Besides the govt knew there was a problem long ago. they were writing up the ventalation citations continuiously. Even by the govt standards they could have classified that mine as a beyond normal safety problem and done more about it. Those guys didnt have anymore info to add that the govt inspectors didnt already know. That coal seem is known geologically to have more methane in it than other coal seems. no crystal ball needed. The CEOs are not down in the hole so they dont have to care when something goes wrong.
Same old issue…production numbers vs safety saying “what if”
It will never change.
There are plenty of companies that have safety departments just to help lower the loss cost, avoid citations, satisfy some contract rule. The department does what it can or is allowed to do but they are not powerfull enough to have control over production. They dont exist to protect the workers directly, just exist for internal benefit.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
MSHA not OSHA
May 12th, 2010 at 6:00 am
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May 12th, 2010 at 9:19 am
I am a Safety Director and I believe if Don Blankenship sent a memo like that, he should be held personally liable for their deaths and should go to jail after his bank accounts have been given to the families of the victims. That’s about the single most irresponsible thing I’ve ever heard from a CEO. Yes, production matters but not at the expense of 29 people and their families.