As the Mine Safety & Health Administration furloughs employees, three mineworkers were killed on the job in three days; OSHA issues fines in West Fertilizer explosion case; and another Bangladesh factory fire kills nine workers.
A fourth official formerly associated with Massey Energy was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison for conspiring to thwart federal mine safety laws. Massey Energy was the operator in 2010 of the site where the worst coal mine disaster in 40 years occurred.
Government
Safety equipment installed after the fact, too little, too late for Army veteran coal miner
Three months after a WV coal miner is killed on the job, the company decides to install safety equipment that could have saved his life.
President Obama nominates Thomas E. Perez for Secretary of Labor; a new study finds that Camp Lejeune water supplies had even more contamination that previously reported; and temp workers in China face worse conditions than permanent employees.
A rock burst at a coal mine in China’s Henan province has killed a total of 10 miners. The explosion happened just after a minor 2.9-magnitude earthquake occurred nearby, and 45 workers were rescued after 36 hours underground – although two of those workers later died of their injuries. Last month, a gas explosion at […]
The most prominent occupational health news this week is the tragic deaths of 29 workers from New Zealand’s Pike River coal mine. Celeste has already written about this, so I’ll just add my encourgement to visit the New Zealand Herald’s photos and short profiles of the 29 miners: Conrad Adams, Malcolm Campbell, Glen Cruse, Allan […]