What’s the Price of a Life in Modern Coal Mining?

By MIKE MYER
At one time the bitter joke among coal miners was that a mule was worth more than a human being. It developed because of stories that, in the chaotic aftermath of mine disasters, some management people seemed more interested in rescuing mules than miners.

A mule cost money, after all. More miners could be found without much trouble.

I’d like to think it was all a mistake. Surely, no mine boss would rescue a mule if it meant leaving an injured miner behind. In fact, accounts of mine disasters not infrequently mention foremen and even coal company executives risking their lives — sometimes losing them — in attempts to get to trapped miners.

But there’s a modern counterpart to the mules vs. men story: What, exactly, is the price of a life in terms of penalizing a coal company for violations of safety rules that result in a death?

I could be flippant about it and answer the question: About $4,500.

But that would be vastly oversimplifying a complicated issue — one that probably needs more attention.

The $4,500 figure comes from an Associated Press story last week. I’ll quote the first paragraph: “Massey Energy has been fined nearly $4,500 for safety violations the state says contributed to a fatal accident at a West Virginia coal mine.” The story went on to explain that the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training uncovered the violations while investigating the death of a miner on Dec. 4 in Kanawha County.

The miner, 57-year-old David Neal, was injured when he fell about 39 feet after a conveyor belt on which he was working started unexpectedly. Neal died of his injuries.

Massey was fined because the belt wasn’t locked, electricity to it wasn’t turned off, a startup alarm was broken, a power supply switch was broken — and Neal didn’t have a safety harness.

Could the accident have been prevented? Obviously. But was the coal company negligent? More important, in the minds of some miners: Is it cheaper for coal companies sometimes to ignore safety violations and pay fines than to spend the considerable sums of money needed to ensure that all the rules are being followed?

Let me emphasize here that I’m not accusing Massey or any other company of doing that. I have limited exposure to industrial safety rules, but what I have seen is that companies usually take them very, very seriously — and not just because they’re the law. Most of them seem to make sense in terms of safeguarding workers.

In terms of state regulators, their power isn’t restricted to levying fines. They can shut down mines — and I believe they have done so in the rare situations in which they fear that serious hazards exist.

Federal government may be a different story. You may recall news stories last year in which federal officials had to admit that hundreds of fines levied against coal companies hadn’t even been collected.

But there’s a bottom line in all of this: Someone was responsible for the accident waiting to happen that killed David Neal. I doubt seriously that it was a Massey Coal executive noticing all the safety violations on the conveyor and telling crews, “Ah, don’t worry about it, fellas.”

It could have been mine foremen — or miners themselves. Who knows? Someone does, of course.

Someone ought to be held accountable. Does that happen? I honestly don’t know.

And the fact that I don’t know is a problem. As matters stand, the sole accountability for David Neal’s death appears to be that Massey Coal is going to have to write a $4,500 check to the state of West Virginia.

Perhaps Massey and state officials know more. Was anyone fired from the mine because of negligence? How much did Neal’s own mistakes, if any, contribute to his death? The questions go on and on.

They need to be answered.

Mike Myer can be reached via e-mail at: Myer@news-register.net.