Mining fatalities steady in state: ; Comparison of states shows Wyoming safest

DAILY MAIL STAFF

West Virginia's rate of fatal mining accidents is steadier thanKentucky's, but both states record more deaths than Wyoming, wherealmost all coal is produced in surface rather than deep mining. West Virginia had nine fatalities in both 1999 and 2000. There weresix in 1997 and six in 1998.

Terry Farley, chief accident investigator for West Virginia'sOffice of Miners' Health Safety and Training, said it's good thatfatalities have reached an industry low but even one death is toomany.

"We'd like to think we do something right," Farley said. "Butsuccess in this field is hard to measure.

"We've leveled off at an area where, regardless of what we do,what we try, we're stuck. I don't know how we'll get to the nextlevel. We have the same mining conditions we've always had.Obviously, they don't improve."

In contrast to West Virginia's consistent figures, Kentuckyreported five mining deaths in 1997, 10 in 1998, five in 1999 and 12in 2000.

In Wyoming, inspectors reported two fatal accidents each in 1998,1999 and 2000. There were none in 1997.

Farley said those numbers are not a fair comparison of miningoperations in each state, though.

In Wyoming, where nearly all coal is mined in surface operations,conditions are different than in West Virginia, the leadingunderground coal-producing state, he said.

"Here, we move more stuff," Farley said. "They move some dirt; wemay move 100 feet of earth and stone."

Also, Wyoming's terrain is not as extreme. "They don't have themountainous terrain," he said. "Here, coal trucks are ascending anddescending much higher grades."

Looking at Kentucky, Farley said it's more like West Virginia inthe eastern part of the state. "Appalachia is Appalachia," he said."But even in Kentucky, with a lot of surface mining in the westernpart of the state, the mountains are probably more gentle than WestVirginia terrain."

Though mining conditions have remained the same, training andmechanization have made the work safer over the years.

"Until a few years ago, we'd have two or three fatalities a yearinvolving coal haulers," he said. "We provided training and did alot of things there, improving haul roads, building escape ramps andstraddle berms," reducing the frequency of the associated accidents.

Bob Phalen, president of the United Mine Workers of America,District 17, agreed with Farley that one fatality is one more thanhe's willing to accept.

"What you have to look at today is West Virginia has about 18,000working coal miners and you take just 10 years ago when there wereabout 50,000 miners," Phalen said. "Per capita, the number of fatalaccidents that we're having today has not decreased that much whenyou have nine fatalities out of 18,000 miners."

He said economics sometimes gets in the way of safety.

Some companies "seem to force people to violate law on a regularbasis," demanding "'Do it this way or you don't have a job,'" Phalensaid.

"Everybody has to strive so that we rid industry of fatalitiestotally," he said. "I'm a firm believer that safety is an attainablegoal and anything less is not good enough."

Farley said, "A lot of folks have come to realize that any fatalaccident is not only morally and ethically wrong, but it's not goodbusiness. It's going to have a significant impact on your bottomline."

Writer Keith Arnold can be reached at 348-7939 or by e-mail atkeith@dailymail.com.