Tough Mine, Workplace Safety Bill Advances

by Mike Hall, Jul 22, 2010

Tough new mine safety and workplace safety rules cleared a big hurdle yesterday when the House Education and Labor Committee approved legislation that includes stronger enforcement tools, tougher penalties and broader workers’ rights.

The bill—now named The Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663) in honor of the late West Virginia senator who was a champion of mine safety—focuses on mine safety, but also includes provisions to strengthen safety protections in all workplaces. Says committee chairman George Miller (D-Calif.):

Too many families have suffered a tragic loss because of callous mine operators, ineffective protections and outdated laws. It is time to provide effective protections so that every worker can return home safely at the end of their shift.

At last week’s hearing on the bill, Stanley “Goose” Stewart, who was able to escape the April explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine that killed 29 other coal miners, told the committee:

Something needs to be done to stop outlaw coal companies who blatantly disregard the laws….This bill must pass to keep coal companies honest or make them pay the price for their unscrupulous behavior.

(Today Massey CEO Donald Blankenship is speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and workers will demonstrate outside, highlighting Massey’s long record of coal mine safety violations. We will bring you a report later today.)

While the catalyst behind the bill was the Massey mine disaster, other recent deadly workplace events helped spur action on the overall job safety provisions. An April explosion at the Tesoro refinery in Washington State killed seven workers. The April 21  BP oil rig blast killed 11 workers, and six workers died at a Connecticut Kleen Energy Systems plant in a February explosion. Says Miller:

Every day, 14 workers don’t come home from work. While they don’t make headlines like trapped miners do, their lives and limbs are no less valuable.

A vote by the full House has not been scheduled.  Click here to read AFL-CIO General Counsel Lynn Rhinehart’s testimony on the bill and here for other witness statements and a video archive of the July 13 hearing on the bill.

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