Report Blasts Massey For 'Deviance' In Safety Culture

[malaise]

<snip>

http://media.npr.org/documents/2011/may/giip-massey-report.pdf
The Report
Major Findings

The more than 100-page Governor's Independent Investigation Panel report on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster highlights the following:

The Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion was a man made disaster that could have been prevented.

Massey Energy put coal production ahead of safety.

Poor ventilation in the mine allowed explosive methane gas to accumulate.

Poorly maintained and malfunctioning water sprayers failed to control a small methane ignition.

Massey Energy failed to control coal dust, which turned a small ignition into a series of massive explosions.

Federal and state regulators failed to rigorously enforce mine safety laws.

UBB miners worked in an atmosphere that was hostile to regulation and to miners who complained about safety issues.

Massey failed to maintain a tracking system in the mine that would have told rescuers who was underground and where after the blast.
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http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/mine-blast-report-massey-blankenship-profoundly-reckless-20110519
<snip>
The first major investigative report (PDF) on the coal mine disaster in West Virginia last year that killed 29 miners was released today. The 122-page report, a year in the making and authored by a team of independent experts appointed by former West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, drops the hammer on Massey Energy, which operated the Upper Big Branch mine and was headed by notoriously thuggish coal baron Don Blankenship. "Massey exhibited a corporate mentality that placed the drive to produce coal above worker safety" at the mine, the report concludes.
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Fuck you Don Blankenship!

[cloudbase]

1. "Safety first" is right up there

with "our people are our most valuable resource."

Mere feel good words.

[Lugnut]

2. "Federal and state regulators failed to rigorously enforce mine safety laws."

So why didn't they? Who's on the take? Follow the money.

Unionized workers at least have the right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions. Upper Big Branch was a non-union operation. That fact doesn't relieve mine inspectors from their failure to do their jobs properly. Don Blankenship and those who enabled him should rot in hell.