[credit: Tony Auth]
The world applauds the rescue of the Chilean miners trapped by a cave in for over two months. Underground mining is an inherently risky business, and most miners go to work in the mines with their eyes open.* Lives depend upon constant vigilance and strict adherence to standards and work rules. Safety underground costs money, so what is required most of all is a system of mine regulation and inspection by an non-profit agency. An audit of the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was ordered after the April 5th explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia which killed 29 miners. What the Labor Department found was not good. The Massey mine had been cited 600 times for safety violations in eighteen months preceding the explosion. The cause of the explosion has not yet been officially determined, but experts believe a methane explosion set off a massive coal dust blast that killed miners up to two miles away. Fifty-four withdrawal orders, given when a condition poses an immediate risk to the health of miners, were issued to Massey by mine inspectors in 2009, and in the months just before the explosion, at the rate of one per week. Yet despite all these violations, the MSHA never took steps to declare a pattern of noncompliance existed that would have allowed it to shut the mine down. The Department of Labor's Inspector General found that lax regulatory enforcement did not favor just Massey Energy. It took 13 years after passage of the 1977 mine safety act for the agency to issue final regulations implementing the legislation. In the agency's thirty-three year history, it has never found a mine worthy of being shut down for a pattern of violations.
China has the largest mining industry and the worst safety record in the world. 2600 men died in China's mines last year. A Chinese miner is 100 times more likely to die underground in an accident than an American miner. South Africa, which has the world's deepest mines, also has a poor safety record. 165 miners died in accidents there last year. Free marketeers boast that "free market" innovation played a crucial role in the Chilean success story. Could a high tech drill bit and fibre optics saved all these men? US Person begs to differ. BP had lots of high-tech available--and chose not to use it because it cost too much.
* One of "Los Treinte y tres" interviewed exclusively by the Washington Post, said he did not tell his mother that he was going to work underground in the 100 year old mine.