January - February - United Mine Workers of America

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health&safety
Drug test diversion
It remains unclear what will happen with a misguided
drug and alcohol initiative launched during the waning
months of the Bush administration.
The rule would require all mine operators to establish
a drug and alcohol program based on guidelines drawn
from regulations governing the
transportation industry. Yet the
vast majority of coal miners
already are tested for drugs and
alcohol, and most coal companies
have already implemented testing
programs. According to MSHA’s
own data, 80 percent of coal miners
already have to pass pre-employment drug and alcohol
screening tests. Seventy-five percent of miners are subject
to random testing by their employers, and under current
regulations, all miners who are working in a section of a
mine where a safety incident occurs can automatically be
tested for drugs and alcohol.
Ironically, although much of the incentive to devise
this new rule was prompted by recent major coal mine
disasters, such as Sago, Aracoma, Darby and Crandall
Canyon, there was no indication of drugs or alcohol being
To push this rule, MSHA established
a hearing format that effectively
denied most UMWA members
the opportunity to testify.
contributing factors to those tragedies. In each of those
cases, the actions or inactions of mine management and
MSHA itself were to blame.
To push this rule, MSHA established a hearing
format that effectively denied most UMWA members
the opportunity to testify. It
devoted thousands of hours of
government employees’ time and
millions of dollars of taxpayers’
money on the rule instead of
focusing on more pressing safety
and health issues.
For example, data published
by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health show that black lung disease is once again on the
rise, afflicting thousands of miners, even younger miners
who have been working in the industry only a short time.
The UMWA has been aggressively seeking action from
MSHA to protect miners from respirable coal and silica
dust for many years, yet nothing has happened. Instead,
Bush’s MSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor told a reporter
that “there’s no way I’m going to get that done with what I
have on my plate.”
Shoemaker rescuers take honors
The Mine Rescue Team at Consol’s Shoemaker Mine in Marshall County,
W.Va., came in first place in competition with all Consol teams in 2008.
UMWA members of the team include Carl Cochran, Jr., Ed Fisher, Bob
Haines, Ted Hunt, Travis McNabb, Okey Rine, George Starkey, Ron Taylor
and Cliff Ward.
Belt air rule
On the last day of the year,
MSHA published the final rule
for “Flame-Resistant Conveyor Belt,
Fire Prevention and Detection and
Use of Air from the Belt Entry.” The
UMWA has consistently opposed
the use of the belt entry to ventilate
working sections because of fire
hazards in that entry. Nonetheless,
the final rule continues to permit the
use of the belt entry for ventilation.
In other provisions, the rule also
requires better belt maintenance,
standardized evacuation and
emergency gear signs, installation
of smoke sensors in underground
working sections and reduction of
dust levels on the belt line.
18 January/February 2009 • United Mine Workers Journal