Public Employee Press

Mine explosion proves the need for safety enforcement

Once again, a mine disaster, this one the worst in two decades, has focused public attention on how business places profits ahead of workers’ lives. On April 5, a huge underground explosion of methane gas killed 29 coal miners at the Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and blasted a huge hole in the fabric of their families and their community.

Massey has a long history of safety and environmental violations and a record of union busting. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has cited Upper Big Branch for 1,342 safety violations since 2005, including 57 in April alone — some of them for infractions involving accumulations of explosive methane.

“The history of violations at the Upper Big Branch Mine provided unheeded signals that the mine was at risk,” noted Georgetown University Professor Beverly Sauer.

The MSHA is seeking fines totaling almost $2 million, but to Massey, which brought in $24 million in income in the fourth quarter of 2009, these are just part of the cost of doing business. Massey also had more toxic spills of coal waste than any other company in West Virginia and drew 4,268 citations from state regulators. Chief Executive Don Blankenship boasts of his union-busting practices and spends millions to elect state judges.

Miners used to take canaries underground with them as an early warning system, because odorless toxic gases like methane would affect the bird before the miners. Today, the miners have become the canaries for other workers in dangerous jobs. The miners’ tragedy is part of a bigger story, says Joel Shufro of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

“Each day, on average, an estimated 177 workers die from work-related causes. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is charged with ensuring that workplaces are safe, but like the mine safety agency, OSHA has been understaffed, underfinanced and lacking in enforcement power,” he wrote.

Coal is king in West Virginia and politics is dirty. The Massey mine is yet another of the all-too-frequent job site disasters killing the workers whose sacrifices keep down the cost of our energy.