They just found both bodies really sad story my condolences to their families and RIP.

 

http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/national/MI14449/

I don't know what government agencies regulate mine safety and all things related to it, but this is ridiculous and something needs to be done to make things safer.

Things have needed to be safer in this industry since the days when Jesus walked across water. The industry hates doing more than it needs to. In fact, it enjoys spending as little money as possible.

Well, we've been mining coal like mad since oil prices spiked, so I bet we'll continue to hear about incidents like these for quite some time.

Something clearly needs to be done. These two high-profile accidents are the result of a failure by the industry to protect their workers. Things like this are what led to the concept of unions around the turn of the 20th century.

This is no means me trying to politicize things, I'm just sharing this from today's paper here in Columbus. I'm not even going to pretend I know anything about this subject, just a cut and paste:

 

The Bush administration, meanwhile, is reviewing safety equipment used in the nation?s mines after previously scrapping similar initiatives started by the Clinton administration.

 

The agency that oversees coal mine safety is seeking public input on how to better supply miners and rescuers with equipment such as breathing apparatus and communications devices, according to documents obtained by the Associat- ed Press.

 

In recent years, the Mine Safety and Health Administration pulled Clinton-era initiatives examining safety equipment and mine-rescue operations off its regulatory agenda, a semiannual document that outlines what agencies are working on.

 

Among the items withdrawn were those dealing with oxygen packs that miners carry and the ability of mine rescue teams do their jobs.

 

Such issues will be re-examined, according to the documents, which noted that the Sago Mine accident "underscored the vital role that minerescue operations play in response to catastrophic mine incidents."

 

In withdrawing the items during its first term, the Bush administration cited changing priorities and resource concerns. Miners? advocates said the action stopped potentially important safety rules.

 

"Work was in progress to implement some of these protections," Joe Main, who recently retired as the top safety expert at the United Mine Workers union, said yesterday.

 

One of the items withdrawn called for a review of oxygen units miners are required to wear or keep within 25 feet of their work area.

 

Main said the goal was to eliminate defects and improve inspections of the air packs and ensure that the machines actually were providing the one hour?s worth of air that is required. The union also wanted extra units stored in the mines. The review will examine those issues.

 

Another item the Clinton administration had been reviewing but which was withdrawn during President Bush?s first term involved the deployment of mine rescue teams.

 

Main said the administration was looking at ways to increase the number of teams available and in proximity to the mines. Mine operators rely on teams that are up to two hours away, which the union says is too far.

The Bush administration changed the focus of MSHA towards prevention, and removed a full layer of administration. Also, compared to 2000, the frequency of inspections has increased by nearly 100%.

 

West Virginia Mining Law 22A-1-35 requires that each operator provide emergency response teams for each underground mine, which may also be outsourced. For the last 13 years, this law has become increasing lenient in its interpretation. Under Governor Joe Manchin, this law has been even losely interpreted, continuing to allow the mine operators to maintain a single team in the state to cover all their operations. Further, under Manchin, the same outsourced team can be the ERT for several operators. This lose interpretation probably had a disasterous impact on the Sago mine accident, as it took the ERT several hours to assemble at the mine, and only two individual members, out of all member of all the ERTs, had ever served in, or was familar with, the Sago mine.

 

For what it's worth, in the last 80 years, every presidential administration has been able to recognize a drop in the average number of coal mine fatalities. While the average number of deaths dropped during the Kennedy administration, it is the only administratin to suffer and increase in the death rate (deaths/miners). However, the Johnson administration, while seeing and improvement in both the number of deaths and death rate over the Kennedy years, still had a higher death rate than the Eisenhower administration. Even including the 13 miners this month in the five years of the current administration, the death rate has fallen by 19% compared to the Clinton administration (which had a 21% drop from Bush I). Further, along with Nixon, Ford, and Carter, the current administration has seen a decline in both the average number of deaths and death rate with also seeing an increase in the number of miners.

 

The increased number of inspection by the current administration has resulted in a reduction in the injury rate in all classifications but one - injuries related to machinery - which is the root cause of the most recent two fatalities. These injuries, which are about 9% of all coal mine injuries, have increased at about a 25% rate. While inspections of the mines themselves has shown results in all other areas, apparently the inspectors do not/can not properly inspect the equipment.

 

There is still a lot more that can be done, especially in the area of prevention of lung disease, for the miners. The Personal Dust Monitors (PDM) still are not available for the miners.