A year after the Quecreek mine rescue in Somerset County, federal mine safety officials fanned out into the nation's coalfields Monday in hopes of raising awareness to combat a rising trend of fatal mining accidents this year.
In a recent 24-day period, seven coal miners were killed in accidents, bringing the nationwide total in coal mining to 21 as of last Friday -- compared with 16 during the same period last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety Health Administration.
"It's an alarming upturn. Even though we're out there every day, for whatever reason, sometimes people lose focus. This is an opportunity to raise awareness," said Cheryl S. McGill, district manager of the Labor Department's Coal Mine Safety & Health District 2, headquartered in Hunker, Westmoreland County.
Yesterday, the federal agency said it will send more than 600 enforcement personnel to more than 1,500 active coal mines nationwide over the next two weeks to speak directly with miners, mine operators and contractors.
District 2 includes all bituminous coalfields in Pennsylvania, a region that includes 153 surface mines, 46 underground mines and 60 mine preparation or coal loading facilities.
The only mine fatality in Pennsylvania so far this year occurred June 13, when a maintenance foreman with 15 years' experience was electrocuted after coming into contact with a 12,470-volt power cable at Mountain Spring Coal Co.'s No. 1 Mine near Shippingsport, Beaver County.
Fatalities in the nation's coal mining sector dropped dramatically in 2002, setting an unprecedented low with 27 deaths, compared to 42 in 2001. The previous low fatality record was 29, set in 1998, according to federal mine safety statistics.
In Pennsylvania, where more than 70 million tons of coal were mined in 2002, three miners lost their lives in separate accidents. One of them occurred at a deep mine in Washington County and two at surface mining operations in Armstrong County.
An estimated 7,700 miners work in Pennsylvania's coal mines.
Powered haulage equipment accidents are the leading cause of fatalities in the mining industry, which also claims lives through explosions, fires, roof falls and inundations.
However, McGill said mine safety officials also are concerned that three of the fatalities this year involved supervisory personnel, and three others involved workers performing maintenance work.
"Supervisors should be even more highly trained and knowledgeable. It could also be indicative of the nature of the coal industry. ... We're mining just as much coal, using fewer miners. Perhaps supervisors are doing more than supervision. But these types of accidents are not typical," McGill said.
