US miners die in worst accident for 40 years

Enviromine

The US has suffered its worst mining accident in 40 years after an explosion as Massey Energy Co’s Upper Big Branch coal mine in Virginia on April 5 killed 29 miners.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said it will investigate the incident and take any necessary action.
“Miners should never have to sacrifice their lives for their livelihood” US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said.

President Barrick Obama also sent his condolences to the families of the victims.

Between 2003 and 2008 there were a total of 362 fatalities in U.S. mines, according to the MSHA, of those 362 fatalities took place in coal mines.

The MSHA said on its website that the overall mine fatality rate has fallen 45% since 2006, when the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Act was passed in the wake of an accident at the Sago coal mine in West Virginia when 12 people were killed.

The same week that the accident occurred, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) released a new guidance on managing fatal risks.

“Despite the implementation of comprehensive safety management systems by many companies, fatal and potentially fatal events continue to occur with unacceptable frequency,” the ICMM said in the document.

The new guidance aims to provide mine managers with a tool to help reduce such events, the ICMM added, by identifying potential gaps in safety management systems.
The document has been designed as a six-step framework, which requires managers to work through a series of questions within each of six elements, to review current efforts to eliminate fatalities and address gaps in resources, staffing and systems in the continuing drive towards zero fatalities.

The six elements included in the framework are: communication and consultation; establishing the context; risk identification; risk analysis and evaluation; risk treatment; and, monitoring and review.

“Successful leaders communicate and actively support the belief that all injuries and illnesses are preventable, and that fatalities are unacceptable,” ICMM president Anthony Hodge said.