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Coal Mines Take Time Off for Safety / W.Va. Companies Halt Production, Hold Reviews, Inspections

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 09:00 CST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Thousands of West Virginia miners got safety lectures and officials began a round of inspections across the state yesterday in a "time-out" urged by the governor.

Sixteen West Virginia miners have been killed over the past month in what is already the deadliest year in the state's coalfields in more than a decade.

The production halt at coal mines in West Virginia, the second- biggest U.S. coal producing state, will last one to two days, according Gov. Joe Manchin III's mining-safety adviser.

Manchin said he was pleased that mining companies were heeding his request to suspend production and hold discussions to reinforce safety. Some companies said they spent a half-hour to an hour talking safety before sending their miners to work.

Massey Energy Inc., the state's largest coal producer, said its safety discussions focused on escape routes, firefighting and the use of emergency air packs. Massey subsidiaries have suffered three deaths this year.

Mines are inspected quarterly in West Virginia, but Manchin ordered the state mine-safety office to speed up checks for problems at the state's 544 mines.

Inspectors planned to focus first on those with higher-than- average accident, injury and violation rates. They will also examine such things as escape routes, conveyor belts and logs. Each inspection can take a few days to a few weeks.

Federal officials promised to send a team of mine inspectors to help, and also asked coal mines nationwide to conduct a time-out, or "Stand Down for Safety," on Monday.

West Virginia has 229 surface and 315 underground mines and about 24,000 coal miners. The number of mining deaths in West Virginia is up sharply from the record low of three last year.

Twelve miners died after the Sago Mine explosion on Jan. 2; two were killed in a conveyor belt fire two weeks ago; and two more were killed in separate accidents on Wednesday.

The safety reviews the governor is requesting typically will be completed in one or two eight-hour shifts, said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the federal agency that oversees mine safety and now an adviser to Manchin. For the state's largest mines, they could take longer.

"There's a bizarre and unsettling pattern with five companies involved and we need to step back and look at why this is happening," McAteer said in a phone interview yesterday. "Everyone in the mining community is concerned about this trend and wants to make sure it doesn't continue."

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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