April 8, 2008

Miners still lack safety protections, GAO says

Nearly two years after Congress passed landmark mine safety reform legislation, miners across the country still lack adequate breathable air supplies and fail-safe communications equipment, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Nearly two years after Congress passed landmark mine safety reform legislation, miners across the country still lack adequate breathable air supplies and fail-safe communications equipment, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The GAO report found that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's failure to provide mine operators with guidance on underground communications systems had caused companies to miss opportunities "to improve the chances of miners trapped in an underground coal mine after an accident to survive until they are able to be rescued."

"It is outrageous that the very problems that led to the deaths of 12 men at the Sago Mine are still problems affecting most mines today," said House Labor Committee Chairman Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat who requested the GAO study.

Read the GAO study online at http://edlabor.house.gov/documentation/20080408GAOReport.pdf

Read more in Wednesday's Gazette.