The report, prepared by former Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Davitt McAteer, said the state needed to increase reviews of underground mining roof control plans, increase staff and funding for the mine safety office, and hold coal companies responsible for accidents of their mining contractors.
In the first 11 months of 2001, 13 miners were killed on the job in West Virginia. "Had these men died together they would have qualified as a disaster and garnered national attention, but as they died one at a time their passing was considered routine," the report said.
"During the course of the past five years, roof falls have accounted for the largest single cause of deaths in all (US) states in underground mines.
"Unfortunately, little has been done in the way of updating or changing methods of controlling the roof, especially from a safety and health standpoint."
The report said retreat pillar mining, especially utilising the "Christmas Tree" design, and the use of 3 foot roof bolts raised serious doubts.
It recommended use of the short bolts be restricted to "exceptional circumstances". West Virginia is the only US state that permits their use.
The report said pillar mining should be permitted only after a thorough review of mining conditions to ensure the techniques take into account the present condition of the strata to be mined.
Singled out for particular criticism by the report was the safety records of independent mining contractors, which it said allows companies to claim a better safety record than they have.
It said Massey Coal has on its official record two fatal accidents for 2001, because only two of the "six or eight" men that died on Massey property and in Massey mines doing the work of miners were Massey employees, The others were independent contractors not officially attributable to Massey.
Contractors "have not been held to as high a standard as traditional mine operators", the report said. "Contractor accident numbers have been increasing over the years as the number of contractors used in the mines has increase."
Independent contractor employees account for roughly a third of all fatalities and probably a similar percentage of non-fatal accidents in West Virginia. it said.
The report recommended operators be responsible for the safety of employed contractors.
It also recommended a tax of US2c per ton of coal produced in West Virigina to develop an improved safety program.
Governor Bob Wise said the state would begin to immediately implement at least four of the recommendations, including:
* an increase in funding for more mine inspectors
* an increase in fines levied for safety violations
* elimination of the 3ft roof bolt
* tightening of regulations for subcontractors and holding companies responsible for their subcontractors' actions.
