Darby Miners Get UMWA Help in Probe of Deadly Blast

by Mike Hall, Jun 1, 2006

Following a May 20 explosion that killed five coal miners in Harlan County, Ky., the remaining workers at Darby Mine No. 1 asked for the Mine Workers to be their official representative in the investigation of the blast. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) certified the UMWA’s participation May 31.

So far this year, 33 coal miners have been killed on the job, more than in any full year since 2001.

“Although the Darby mine is a nonunion mine, these miners have asked us to participate on their behalf so that the UMWA’s experience in safety and accident investigations can be brought to bear in this inquiry, as it has been in others,” said UMWA President Cecil Roberts.

Under federal law, two or more miners at a nonunion mine may request that the union be designated their representative in a safety investigation. Following the Jan. 2 explosion that killed 12 workers at the Sago Mine in Upshur County, W.Va., miners and their families requested and won UMWA representation for the investigation into that explosion.

“As at Sago, our sole purpose in the investigation at Darby is to help get the facts about what happened so that we can do whatever we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again, either at Darby or at any other mine in North America,” Roberts said.

Unlike Sago, where it took a federal court order before the mine’s owner, International Coal Group, would allow union safety investigators into the mine, Kentucky Darby LLC did not object to the UMWA’s participation.

Meanwhile, when Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess next week, the House is expected to act on coal mine safety legislation to strengthen mine safety laws. Click here to urge the House to protect coal miners.

The Senate approved legislation May 24 that would require additional emergency oxygen supplies in the mines and pave the way for better communication, tracking devices and procedures to help miners caught in explosions, fires and other serious accidents.

In a related development, the UMWA soon will file suit in federal court seeking an order to require MSHA to begin immediate random testing of all emergency oxygen devices, known as self-contained self-rescuers, that every miner carries. The devices are supposed to provide an hour’s supply of oxygen in emergencies.

Roberts said:

There have been too many reports of these units failing in actual emergency situations this year to ignore. MSHA has not taken the steps it should take as the watchdog for miner safety to verify that these units, which miners entrust their lives to every day, are indeed in good working order. So, we’re going to court to ensure that they are.

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