Mine Explosion in WV

[Hardrock69]

Heh....the Gnashville newspaper (The Tennesseean) ran the following on this morning's front page:

"12 Miners Found Alive 41 Hours After Blast"

[blonddgirl777]

Originally posted by WACF
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarp...c-521e7e20dded

[I]...Because of that we have the Westray bill...which means when a company takes short cuts in equipment or Health and Saftey violations they can be criminally charged.

Thanks for that!!!

[WACF]

Originally posted by blonddgirl777
Do people feel like the rescuers didn't make enough efforts?

No problem.

On the did they do enough question...I can tell you I spent a few years on our Mine Rescue team.
The saftey of the team is your number one priority.
With your breathing equipment and first aid supples...stretcher, gas testers ect., you can not risk a team member becoming injured. You need every member.

Heat from fire or explosion also changes your ground conditions very drastically...especially in coal...we are Potash.
You spend more time checking gases or explosive limits and ground conditions than you do advancing quickly.
In practices we would build wooden cribs to hold up the roof with our equipment on...it takes a long time...and with limited air in your breathing packs very exhausting. It is a very slow undertaking.

I can gaurantee you the rescuers did all they could...they were their own.

[Big Fat Sammy]

Originally posted by WACF
[url]
I do not know how things work in that state...but labour laws can prevent things from escalating to this point.
It does sound like they have a mine inspection branch...and they were looking into some complaints.

I come from there, a long line of miners. From what I can gather, many mine inspectors take payoffs to overlook certain things.

From what I've seen happen to my family members, there is no way I would ever go in a mine. I don't believe any mine is safe, no matter how many precautions are taken.

[WACF]

Originally posted by Big Fat Sammy
I come from there, a long line of miners. From what I can gather, many mine inspectors take payoffs to overlook certain things.

From what I've seen happen to my family members, there is no way I would ever go in a mine. I don't believe any mine is safe, no matter how many precautions are taken.

That is horrible...that is where the right to refuse dangerous work would come into play...if it exists there.

I had an unfortunate accident a year and half ago.
I was involved in a ground fall and was inches from being killed.
Luckily I only broke my collar bone and a couple of ribs...due to a peice of equipment taking the load as it crushed me down.
My ear got knicked, instead of a direct blow on my head.

BUT, I can tell you with 18 years in the mine I see more risk on the highway to work than while at work.
My incident was out of the ordinary...an (unfortuanate)series of events all occuring at the same time.

[Big Fat Sammy]

Damn.

My grandfather broke nearly every bone in his body in the mines of WV. It's much safer now, but still a dangerous job. And there is always Black Lung.

You have to understand that West Virginia has the poorest counties in the whole United States. I could show you places that would make you think you are in some third world country.

Miners make great money...so they aren't likely to turn down unsafe work, because often times the only other choice is poverty...

[WACF]

I see what you are saying.

Maybe labour laws need to be stiffer...not an easy thing to change when big business can influence government.
Are the workers unionized?
When faced with losing a good wage people will do alot of things to get by.

We have excellent labour laws here...along with a good mining act.
Our mine inspectors unfortunalty are chosen by the minister of labour and quite often are friends of the minister rather than an experienced miner or someone within the industry.
So we have our problems too...but thank God no pay offs to overlook.

That is criminal.

[Fairwrning]

If I'm not mistaken..first report was lightning caused the explosion somehow..."act of god" was used...therefore no one can be sued...
This mine also had 46, i think, previous saftey violations..some fixed..some not..
Being somewhat clausterphobic..buried alive is a nasty way to go..much sympathy to the families there..

[WACF]

Mine ventalation and a gas pocket or build up are most certainly a cause.

Lighning could be a factor I suppose...but you need the build up of an explosive gas...which should not build up to the explosive limit in a properly ventalated mine...without setting off a gas detector.

In coal there has to be gas detectors.
I believe the lower explosive limit of Methane is only %5...when you get close to that you would withdraw your men.

That did not happen.

[larbo]

The misinformation came like this. A rescue worker said that he just found 12 individuals & to stand-by for report. This means he had eye contact but had not checked for vitals. one of the governer's people that was at the command center heard this on the loud speaker, took it upon themselves to call the gov. at the church & told him they were coming out with 12 people. The gov. then told the families at the church that 12 were found alive. The people were thankful & celebrating. Three hours later the ceo of ICG came to the church & sprung it on the people that there was only 1 survivor. The people, at first, thought they were being lied to & thought the company was trying to hide something, & was furious. You have to understand the pressure that these people were under. first they were told & knew that the odds didn't look good. Then were told by the Governer that they were all alive. Then told by CEO Hetfield, that they were all dead. The confusion is all the governer's fault! Later, When confronted by a reporter from CNN that said that the gov. told her personally that 12 was found alive, he denied it. She told me exactly what & how he said it & I believe her. This idiot should have never been allowed on the property. When I heard he showed up there, I knew no good would come from it. He is just like his daddy(former gov. of W.Va), an attention-whore-crook. This mining company did have an outrageous number of write-ups. This IS normal for all coal companies. They take short-cuts to save a lot of money. Make no mistake, The miners know this each & every time they enter the mine. Methane gas is a serious problem in the mines here. It is vented the best it can be but sometimes it is not enough. A little arc of static electricity can ignite methane or coal dust. Coal dust is just as explosive as gun powder. I mean, It's a gamble everytime you are down there. a lot of shit can happen. I could be wrong but I think lightening caused this one because we were having a pretty good thunder storm at that time. The twelve miners probably died 1 1/2 to two hours after the blast on monday. On the comment about Inspectors getting paid off to look the other way, It happens, sometimes. But not as much as you might think. Most Inspectors ARE hard-ass's. I come from a long line of coal miners. I worked in the mines for 7 years. My last job, before I was hurt, was on surface mines. All miners say a miners prayer before entering the hole in the ground, knowing they may not come back out. Why do we still do it? A miner can make on average, 50 thousand a year. which is ok for around here. A good, experienced miner can make between 70 to 100 thousand per year which has earned me & my family a good lifestyle. I was covered up one time but made it out with only a broken arm. My dad lost his arm six years ago from a roof-bolting accident. One of my brothers had a huge piece of rock break free from the ceiling & fall on him & break his back. luckily, he was not paralysed. He has went on to build miners for coal companies. The biggest tragedy of all is the women & children were given hope that their husbands and daddies were ok. I will never forget the look on an eight year old girls face when they told her that her dad, my friend, was killed. I knew all of the people that perished. This is a sad day for us all.

[larbo]

Originally posted by larbo
The misinformation came like this. A rescue worker said that he just found 12 individuals & to stand-by for report. This means he had eye contact but had not checked for vitals. one of the governer's people that was at the command center heard this on the loud speaker, took it upon themselves to call the gov. at the church & told him they were coming out with 12 people. The gov. then told the families at the church that 12 were found alive. The people were thankful & celebrating. Three hours later the ceo of ICG came to the church & sprung it on the people that there was only 1 survivor. The people, at first, thought they were being lied to & thought the company was trying to hide something, & was furious. You have to understand the pressure that these people were under. first they were told & knew that the odds didn't look good. Then were told by the Governer that they were all alive. Then told by CEO Hetfield, that they were all dead. The confusion is all the governer's fault! Later, When confronted by a reporter from CNN that said that the gov. told her personally that 12 was found alive, he denied it. She told me exactly what & how he said it & I believe her. This idiot should have never been allowed on the property. When I heard he showed up there, I knew no good would come from it. He is just like his daddy(former gov. of W.Va), an attention-whore-crook. This mining company did have an outrageous number of write-ups. This IS normal for all coal companies. They take short-cuts to save a lot of money. Make no mistake, The miners know this each & every time they enter the mine. Methane gas is a serious problem in the mines here. It is vented the best it can be but sometimes it is not enough. A little arc of static electricity can ignite methane or coal dust. Coal dust is just as explosive as gun powder. I mean, It's a gamble everytime you are down there. a lot of shit can happen. I could be wrong but I think there was a quick build-up of either methane or coal dust & lightening set it off because we were having a pretty good thunder storm at that time. Coal liberates methane and sometimes can do it very fast even when you check it like you are supposed to. The twelve miners probably died 1 1/2 to two hours after the blast on monday from carbon-monoxide poisoning. On the comment about Inspectors getting paid off to look the other way, It happens, sometimes. But not as much as you might think. Most Inspectors ARE hard-ass's. I come from a long line of coal miners. I worked in the mines for 7 years. My last job, before I was hurt, was on surface mines. All miners say a miners prayer before entering the hole in the ground, knowing they may not come back out. Why do we still do it? A miner can make on average, 50 thousand a year. which is ok for around here. A good, experienced miner can make between 70 to 100 thousand per year which has earned me & my family a good lifestyle. I was covered up one time but made it out with only a broken arm. My dad lost his arm six years ago from a roof-bolting accident. One of my brothers had a huge piece of rock break free from the ceiling & fall on him & break his back. luckily, he was not paralysed. He has went on to build miners for coal companies. The biggest tragedy of all is the women & children were given hope that their husbands and daddies were ok. I will never forget the look on an eight year old girls face when they told her that her dad, my friend, was killed. I knew all of the people that perished. This is a sad day for us all.

[larbo]

Sorry. I meant to edit that, not quote it.

[Big Fat Sammy]

Are you near there larbo?

I'm originally from Beckley.

[Ally_Kat]

Originally posted by larbo
The misinformation came like this. A rescue worker said that he just found 12 individuals & to stand-by for report. This means he had eye contact but had not checked for vitals. one of the governer's people that was at the command center heard this on the loud speaker, took it upon themselves to call the gov. at the church & told him they were coming out with 12 people. The gov. then told the families at the church that 12 were found alive.

Wait, where did you get this? Everyone, even the Gov said that there were calls to the relatives, not the Gov.

And what about the arrangements they started to make with the families on seeing the guys before taking them to the hospital?