“The number of coal miners killed on the job in the United States during the first half of 2003 were at levels unseen since the early 1990’s, and by late October had surpassed last years death toll,” said Main.

“Investigations of some of those are uncovering a disturbing disregard for mining laws and prudent mining practices. Also of major concern was an alarming rash of mine explosions, fires and inundations, particularly at longwall mines,” he said.

“During the 80’s and 90’s a lot of change and emphasis was placed on sound mine practices and mine designs along with scrutiny and maintenance of those to curb the type of accidents such as explosions and fires that placed larger numbers of miners at risk.

Our concern over the past few years is that paradigm may be shifting with tighter coal markets and efforts to increase productivity.”

Main said over time the longwall sector had made substantial progress, which had resulted in a sound set of rules. However, problems begin to occur when mine operators don’t adhere to the rules and start making changes or shortcuts to the mining systems.

“If the enforcement of the mine laws by the government is perceived to be weak in these market conditions, safety can go down hill quickly and miners pay a big price,” Main said.

“I think the biggest fears are lax compliance coupled with mine operators making shortcuts to the overall mining system that place more miners at risk of injury or death from major accidents such as explosions, fires, and inundations.”

“For example, when mine operators reduce maintenance of the mining systems, or get behind on production and start cutting back on their gate road development; their bleeder system design; not ensuring methane gases are carried away safely; cutting back on the supports that they should have in the entries for ventilation purposes; and miners escape routes are compromised - it is a recipe for disaster.

“We do not want to return to the days of the 1980’s when fires and explosions were all to common such as the Wilberg disaster in Utah and the Pyro mine disaster in Kentucky.”

Main said one thought that may linger in a mine managers mind with the added pressure of high output, was pressure to cut back on the development cycle to quickly get into the longwall production cycle.

“When your sequence gets behind schedule – you ‘gotta’ get the longwall running – your development time is seen as higher cost than your longwall production cost. That type of thinking can be disastrous.”