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Wheeling Jesuit to Host Mining Health, Safety Symposium

Posted on: Monday, 20 March 2006, 03:03 CST

By Anonymous

Wheeling Jesuit University is hosting an International Mining Health and Safety Symposium in April.

The symposium comes on the heels of 16 coal mining deaths so far this year in West Virginia and the subsequent passage of mine safety legislation in the Mountain State along with the introduction of measures at both the state and federal level to make mining safer.

"I've made a commitment to do everything possible to make West Virginia's mines the safest in the nation," West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said. "This symposium - the first of its kind - will move us closer to that goal."

The symposium, set for April 20-22 at Wheeling Jesuit, will focus on issues such as how mine equipment is approved and how to accelerate adoption of new technologies, both from traditional sources and by adapting technologies developed for other applications by agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), the federal agency charged with conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illnesses, join the state as co-sponsors of the event.

The forum will provide an opportunity for technology developers and equipment manufacturers to display and demonstrate their products. Representatives of MSHA, the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety & Training, the West Virginia Coal Association, the National Mining Association, the United Mine Workers of America and other organizations have agreed to participate in reviewing technologies and discussing deployment strategies.

Mine health and safety and mine rescue experts from Canada, Australia and other nations will also so be invited to participate.

"We must pursue the technological innovations and improvements that every West Virginia miner deserves," Manchin said.

"In the wake of the multiple tragedies we have experienced this year, we can do no less-for the protection of miners and for the peace of mind of their families."

"I am gratified that we can help in the state's efforts to improve protection for miners and to assist mine rescue teams," said the Rev. Joseph R. Hacala, president of Wheeling Jesuit. The university is hosting the symposium under the umbrella of its Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center. MSHA's Approval and Certification Center, which approves new equipment for mines, is nearby in Triadelphia; MSHA's Safety and Health Technology Center is in Bruceton, Pa.; and NIOSH conducts mining safety and health research in Morgantown and Bruceton.

J. Davitt McAteer, vice president for sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit and former assistant secretary of labor for Mine Safety and Health, currently serves as a special adviser to the governor on the investigations into the Sago and Alma Mine Those two disasters account for 14 of the total 16 mining deaths in the state so far this year.

"We owe it to the victims and their families to do all we can, as rapidly as we can, to prevent such needless tragedies," McAteer said.

Copyright State Journal Corporation Feb 17, 2006

Source: State Journal, The

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