SEARCH
Methane Levels Increased Before Sago Explosion |
|
Five days before the Jan. 2 explosion that killed 12 coal miners, Sago mine officials discovered increased methane levels in and around the sealed-off area where the explosion is believed to have occurred, The Charleston (W.V.) Gazette reports.
The Gazette—which obtained the previously confidential interviews and has posted the complete set of transcripts on its website—reported:
The methane concentrations were not yet high enough to be ignited, and the general industry practice is to ignore mine areas that have been sealed. Mine safety experts now say the Sago test results appear to have been a warning that—if heeded—might have helped prevent West Virginia’s worst mining disaster in nearly 40 years.
Sago officials dismissed the methane sampling and took no preventative steps.
That and other details, including harrowing accounts of miners who escaped the blast, are contained in the transcripts of more than 70 interviews the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training conducted with Sago officials, miners, rescue crews and officials of the International Coal Group, which owns the mine in Upshur County, W.V.
So far this year, 24 coal miners have been killed on the job. At the same time last year, three coal miners had been killed. There were 22 coal mine fatalities in all of 2005. The Bush administration’s record on mine safety and its appointment of coal executives to top mine safety posts has come under increasing fire, including this April 11 editorial from the Gazette.
In the transcripts, miners who fled the area after the explosion told what it was like:
“There was no warning, no nothing,” testified Owen Jones, a foreman on the crew that escaped. “I mean, more wind and dust than you could even think about.”
Another miner, Ronald Grall, told investigators, “I didn’t hear anything but a little bump, like a thump. And all this stuff started blowing down on us—coal dust, soot, ash, mud. It was just like volcano stuff, you know. It was just like being in a volcano.
“And I thought we was getting covered up with a roof fall at first,” Grall said. “And that scared me more than being in an explosion. I said, ‘Oh, no. I’m going to get covered up in a mantrap, buried alive here.’”
The transcripts also reveal questions about the type of seals and how they were installed to block off the worked-out section of the mine where the explosion is suspected to have occurred:
Late last year, Sago Mine managers sought and received approval to seal this part of their mine using Omega Blocks, a lightweight, hard-foam alternative to concrete blocks. Some mine operators prefer the lighter alternatives because they can be installed more quickly, using fewer workers.
John Collins, a state inspector, reviewed the Sago Mine seals on Dec. 12, and concluded that they were properly constructed, according to state inspection records previously made public.
In his interview with investigators, Collins said that, at the time of his inspection, Sago workers had not applied “rock dust,” a material used to suppress explosions, in the area immediately outside the seals.
John Mehaulic Jr., an MSHA inspector, examined the seals during a visit to the Sago Mine on Dec. 21, according to a transcript of his March 27 interview with investigators.
“I did not detect any methane, did not see any oxygen deficiencies,” Mehaulic testified. “And the seals were complete, as far as I could see from this side of them. They were done according to the plan.”
Marty Carver, another MSHA inspector, said he found at least one problem during construction of the seals. With inspectors watching, workers laid blocks in a line with the joints parallel to each other, a mistake that violated the seal plan and would make the seals weaker, Carver said.
“…So we took the time out, we pulled the plan out and we reviewed the plan for about 30 minutes,” Carver said. “At the end of it, they removed the block, cut part of the block off, re-mortared and repositioned so the joints were not parallel to each other.”
Carver also testified that the workers were not coating the blocks with water, as required by the company’s approved plan for the seals.
Another MSHA inspector, Roger Workman, said it is difficult for inspectors to know for sure if the seals are installed properly.
“The only way we can really say a seal is built correctly, we’d have to be there when they start and watch them do the whole thing,” Workman said. “I mean, once you plaster that wall, you can’t see the joints. And then, if you don’t watch them do the top—I mean, how do I know whether they wedged it good and tight around there?”
In another interview, Sago Mine contractor James Scott testified that he was in charge of building the seals. Scott, an employee of Garrett Mine Services, said in a Jan. 25 interview that he had never before built seals using Omega Blocks. At Sago, Scott testified, his primary work crew included two so-called red hats, or inexperienced miners.
No Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
