SEARCH
Court Sides with Mine Owners in Safety Case; Sago Families Sue ICG |
|
The lone survivor of January’s Sago Mine disaster and two of the families of the 12 miners killed in the methane explosion filed suits this week in a West Virginia court alleging poor safety practice by the company and others.
In a related development, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Mine Workers (UMWA) that sought to force the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to inspect the emergency breathing devices in the nation’s coal mines following reports that they malfunctioned at Sago and in other emergencies this year that have killed 37 miners, the highest number in any full year since 2001.
The suits against Sago Mine owner International Coal Group Inc. (ICG), its subsidiary Wolf Run Mining Co. and three suppliers of mining products, including the blocks used to wall off the section of mine where the methane explosion occurred, were brought by survivor Randall McCloy and the families of Marty Bennett and James Bennett who died in the blast. They are not related.
According to The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, the suits by the Bennett families charge that ICG “negligently failed to put in place any standardized operating and safety policies and procedures” and “failed to monitor” the safety practices and compliance with federal mine safety laws by Wolf Run Mining, which was operating the Sago Mine.
McCloy’s suit notes that MSHA cited the Sago Mine more than 200 times in 2005 for safety violations, including 96 that the safety agency classified as “significant and substantial,” the Gazette reports. It also says that in 2005 Sago’s accident rate was three times the national average.
While the suits seek punitive and compensatory damages, they also ask the Kanawha County Circuit Court to order ICG to immediately implement the safety improvements recommended in independent investigation of the mine disaster ordered by Gov. Joe Manchin (D) and conducted by long-time mine safety expert and former MSHA chief Davitt McAteer.
In a statement, the family of James Bennett says:
The suit is about putting mine safety ahead of the bottom line. It’s about making sure another senseless tragedy like Sago never happens again.
In the UMWA case, Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the suit failed to meet certain legal requirements and thus could not go forward.
The suit was filed in June after several reported failures of the emergency oxygen devices known as self-contained, self-rescuers (SCSR). But MSHA sought to have the suit dismissed.
At the time UMWA president Cecil Roberts said:
There have been too many reports of faulty SCSRs in the mine tragedies we’ve experienced this year to ignore. In fact, miners have experienced problems with these units for years. We’ve called in the past for MSHA to inspect these units, to little result. So, we’ve been forced to take this extra step to get these units tested.
We frankly wish we didn’t have to go to court to get MSHA to do this. MSHA is supposed to be the federal watchdog for mine safety, and after all the reports of failed SCSRs in emergency situations, you would think MSHA would do this on its own. Indeed, I have asked the agency, in writing, to do so.
Along with the inspections, the suit asked that MSHA require mine operators to train miners on the use of the oxygen devices in “hands-on, in-mine, emergency-like” conditions instead of the simple classroom demonstrations now used at most mines.
A UMWA spokesperson says that MSHA is now requiring such training.
The soaring death toll in the nation’s coal mine so far this year spurred Congress to pass legislation to improve mine safety and to block President Bush’s nomination of Richard Stickler to head MSHA. Stickler is a former coal industry executive, and mine safety experts say the Bush administration’s appointments of coal industry insiders to top mine safety posts has lead to a decrease in safety enforcement activities and a lack of tough new safety regulations.
However, in a quiet backdoor move earlier this summer, the Bush administration hired Stickler as a consultant to MSHA.
No Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
