mine safety News

Claim That Quake Caused Utah Mine Disaster Rejected

A University of Utah study had rejected a company’s claims concerning the cause of a 2007 collapse at Utah’s Crandall Canyon coal mine that killed nine people. The scientists presented findings of their research last week at the Seismological Society …

Research Panel Recommends Steps to Help Mine Workers Escape in Emergencies

Federal regulators and safety officials should consider requiring more backup air supplies and work to develop better breathing devices that would help the nation’s coal miners escape underground emergencies, a panel of experts said in a new report. The report …

Kentucky Miner Who Reported Safety Violations Faces Discipline

The Office of Mine Safety and Licensing is asking that an eastern Kentucky miner who reported safety violations be put on probation because he worked in unsafe conditions. Mackie Bailey faces a hearing in February with the state Mine Safety …

Mining Deaths Down in First Half of 2012

Nineteen mining deaths occurred during the first six months of the year, the second-lowest midyear toll ever recorded, federal regulators said. Fourteen miners died during the same period last year. The Mine Safety and Health Administration said 10 of this …

Prosecutors Say Alpha Has Improved Mine Safety Since West Virginia Settlement

Alpha Natural Resources has significantly cut its accident and injury rates in the six months since a landmark $210 million settlement that spared the company criminal charges over the 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 workers, federal prosecutors say. Alpha …

W.Va. Families Head to U.S. Capitol Over Mine Safety

Relatives of three miners killed in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch disaster are in Washington, D.C., to press for the passage of long-stalled mine safety legislation by July 4. Gary Quarles lost son Gary Wayne in the 2010 explosion that …

West Virginia Coal Miner Claims Alpha Fired Him Over Safety

A coal miner who says he was fired for enforcing safety standards that slowed down both production and the sealing of the Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia is suing Alpha Natural Resources. The State Journal said Glen …

Coal Firm Alpha Cites Safety Steps on Coal-Dust

Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources says it has taken steps to avoid coal-dust violations of the kind that investigators say caused the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 men, according to a letter the Bristol, Va.-based company …

10 Miners Have Died in Job-Related Accidents Thus Far in 2012

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said 10 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines during the first quarter of 2012, and half of those occurred on five consecutive weekends. MSHA chief Joe Main said that three …

Suspect Air Packs Still Being Used at Coal Mines

Two years of testing have found a critical defect in a certain model of emergency breathing devices used in U.S. coal mines, but federal regulators have no immediate plans to remove the more than 70,000 air packs that could remain …