Re: Mine Safety Subordinated to Mining Company Interests

> In addition, 16 violations logged in the past eight months were listed
> as
> "unwarrantable failures,"

These serious violations had to do with roof falls, and in no way
contributed to an explosion, other than a pointing out apparent habit of
ignoring safety issues.

Two things cause explosions in coal mines (1) Methane, and/or an
accumulation of fine coal dust and (2) an ignition source.

Roof falls can not do either. Those reporters were brilliant to point out
that it roof falls were stopped, the explosion would not have happened.
Perhaps they are related to Jean Paul?

This mine had a shale type of roof, I understand, and this type of roof is
typically supported initially by 3 ft to 4 ft long roof bolts, which bid the
strata together like a *** of plywood, and make the entire "beam" strong
enough to support the weight. However, when the roof separates above the
anchor point of the bolts, down it comes, unless you knew it was fractured
and weak and used additional timbering.

The only problem is, until just before the roof falls, there is no way of
knowing the condition above the bolts. maybe some one could invent a x-ray
machine or something similar so one could see the roof above, but without
something like this, it is difficult to foretell a roof collapse.

As for explosions, the best prevention is to rockdust regularly, (keeps the
coal dust inert with CaOH) and to keep very good ventilation in the mine
(this keeps any methane diluted to non explosive ranges)

I loaded 16 tons and what did I get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.

Old coal miners song.




"Alan" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:memo.20060106220838.580E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Only 1 survivor in W. Va. coal mine disaster
>
> John Bennett, whose father Jim Bennett was one of the victims and had
> been
> due to retire in April, complained that his father would "tell me how
> unsafe the
> mine is."
>
> Problems at the mine had been "going on for months ... and they still
> send
> men in," Bennett told "Today," adding that he felt that if the mine owner
> had
> allowed workers to unionize the violations wouldn't have happened.
>
> Safety Violations Have Piled Up at Coal Mine
>
> In the past two years, the mine was cited 273 times for safety
> violations,
> of which about a third were classified as "significant and substantial,"
> according to documents compiled by the Labor Department's Mine Safety and
> Health
> Administration (MSHA). Many were for problems that could contribute to
> accidental explosions or the collapse of mine tunnels, records show.
>
> In addition, 16 violations logged in the past eight months were listed
> as
> "unwarrantable failures," a designation reserved for serious safety
> infractions
> for which the operator had either already been warned, or which showed
> "indifference or extreme lack of care," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA
> senior
> adviser.
>
> Mine Safety Subordinated to Mining Company Interests
>
> OMB Watch has been monitoring and reporting on these developments
> throughout
> this time. Our recent report, Special Interest Takeover: The Bush
> Administration
> and the Dismantling of Public Safeguards (available here),
>
> http://www.sensiblesafeguards.org/sit.phtml
>
> documents the rollbacks of mine-related workplace and environmental
> protections
> and highlights the problem of the "foxes in the henhouse"...
>
>
>
> Alan
>
> "Can't you see we're still here,
> Can't you see we're still here,
> Singing loud; Singing clear,
> We shall not go under,
> We're still here."
>
> Nemesis Peace Centre
>
> http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/protector.html
>
> Abuse of Women and Children
>
> http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/
>
> Nemesis News
>
> http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/
>
> Absolute Anarchy
>
> http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/
>


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