Safety and Training

Many people who have a coal-mining job are not trained as well as they should be. Some of these people do not know anything about mining safety and only take the job for the money. Since 1900, more than 104,600 people have died in coal mines. There is a federal requirement of only 40 hours of training and this is not enough. The recent deaths in West Virginia and Utah illustrate the need for increased training for miners. West Virginia requires double the federal training time, 80 hours. Miners working in other states including Utah and Illinois need to meet only the federal requirement of 40 hours of training. The United Mine Workers of America’s Pennsylvania-based Career Centers Inc. or UMWA, a company that trains new miners, requires 360 hours of training because they believe that is safer for workers. The industry has realized that many miners will be retiring soon and they need to attract new, well-trained workers. One man, Charles Waychoff, who spent six years on a Navy sub, believes that the 9 weeks of training he received helps keep him alive. He faced many of the same dangers on the sub as he will in his new career as a coal miner.

In American history there have been many mining catastrophes. The biggest of these was at Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907. An explosion, triggered by methane gas, blocked ventilation systems, which caused the buildup of harmful gases. This explosion of mine shafts 6 and 8 caused 362 deaths. Although the death rates in coal mines have been declining in recent decades; the number is still unacceptably high.