Neglect and Death

While the cruelty of the media coverage that gave the families of the victims false hope is by no means a trivial story, it seems to be that the fact that the deaths of the miners may well have been caused by a company that was violating federal regulations is rather more important:

Time and again over the past four years, federal mining inspectors documented the same litany of problems at central West Virginia’s Sago Mine: mine roofs that tended to collapse without warning. Faulty or inadequate tunnel supports. A dangerous buildup of flammable coal dust.

Yesterday, the mine’s safety record came into sharp focus as officials searched for explanations for Monday’s underground explosion. That record, as reflected in dozens of federal inspection reports, shows a succession of operators struggling to overcome serious, long-standing safety problems, some of which could be part of the investigation into the cause of the explosion that trapped 13 miners.

In the past two years, the mine was cited 273 times for safety violations, of which about a third were classified as “significant and substantial,” according to documents compiled by the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Many were for problems that could contribute to accidental explosions or the collapse of mine tunnels, records show.

In addition, 16 violations logged in the past eight months were listed as “unwarrantable failures,” a designation reserved for serious safety infractions for which the operator had either already been warned, or which showed “indifference or extreme lack of care,” said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA senior adviser.

“That is a very high number, and it is usually indicative of a very poor safety record,” Oppegard said.

We do not know at this point whether these violations caused this particular accident, but it is clear that the company was putting its workers in unacceptably risky situations, and this kind of tragedy was likely sooner or later.

Mahablog has much more.