US Explosion.

[John]

Virginia Coal Mine

AP

The blast happened at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, about 30 miles south of Charleston.



AP

April 5, 2010: Emergency vehicles leave the entrance to Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine in Montcoal, W.Va. after an explosion at the underground coal mine.

MONTCOAL, W.Va. -- Rescue teams planned to search again for four workers missing in a coal mine where a massive explosion killed 25 in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades, though officials said Tuesday that the chances were slim that the miners survived.

The suspended rescue mission would resume after bore holes could be drilled to allow for toxic gases to be ventilated from Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine about 30 miles south of Charleston, state and federal safety officials said.

"All we have left is hope, and we're going to continue to do what we can," Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at a news conference. "But I'm just trying to be honest with everybody and say that the situation does look dire."

Though the cause of the blast was not known, the operation run by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. has a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane gas, safety officials said.

Stricklin said officials had hoped some of the missing survived the blast Monday afternoon and were able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for them to live for four days. However, rescue teams checked one of two nearby and it was empty. The buildup of toxic methane gas -- a constant problem at the mine -- and of carbon monoxide prevented teams from reaching other chambers, officials said.

A total of 29 miners were in the area during a shift change when the blast happened, officials said. Some may have died in the blast and others when they breathed in the gas-filled air, Stricklin said. Seven bodies had been recovered and identified, but the other 18 have not, said Gov. Joe Manchin, who returned to the state after being out of town. Names weren't released publicly.

"Everybody's just heartbroken over this and the impact on these families," said mine safety director Joe Main, who was headed to West Virginia.

It is the most people killed in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most killed in a U.S. mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co., in Hyden, Ky.

After a record low 34 deaths last year, Main said he and others believed coal mining had turned the corner on preventing fatal accidents.

"There's always danger. There's so many ways you can get hurt, or your life taken," said Gary Williams, a miner and pastor of a church near the southern West Virginia mine. "It's not something you dread every day, but there's always that danger. But for this area, it's the only way you're going to make a living."

Benny R. Willingham, 62, who was five weeks away from retiring, was among those who perished, said his sister-in-law Sheila Prillaman.

He had mined for 30 years, the last 17 with Massey, and planned to take his wife on a cruise to the Virgin Islands next month, she said.

"Benny was the type -- he probably wouldn't have stayed retired long," Prillaman said. "He wasn't much of a homebody."

Prillaman said family members were angry because they learned of Willingham's death after reading it on a list Massey posted, instead of being contacted by the company.

"The families want closure," Manchin said at a news conference. "They want names ... these families are good people. Hard-working people. They understand the challenges. Right now I told them to do what they do best. Love each other and come together as a family."

Manchin said the explosion was massive and that the situation looks bleak, but that miracles can happen and pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12.

Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours in an atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.

In Monday's blast, nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine's long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, Stricklin said.

They found nine workers, seven of whom were dead. Others were hurt or missing about a mile and a half inside the mine, though there was some confusion over how many. Others made it out, Manchin said.

Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee. It ranks among the nation's top five coal producers and is among the industry's most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.

In the past year, federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch. The violations also cover failing to follow the plan, allowing combustible coal dust to pile up, and having improper firefighting equipment.

Methane is one of the great dangers of coal mining, and federal records say the Eagle coal seam releases up to 2 million cubic feet of methane gas into the Upper Big Branch mine every 24 hours, which is a large amount, said Dennis O'Dell, health and safety director for the United Mine Workers labor union.

In mines, giant fans are used to keep the colorless, odorless gas concentrations below certain levels. If concentrations are allowed to build up, the gas can explode with a spark roughly similar to the static charge created by walking across a carpet in winter, as at the Sago mine, also in West Virginia.

Since then, federal and state regulators have required mine operators to store extra oxygen supplies. Upper Big Branch uses containers that can generate about an hour of breathable air, and all miners carry a container on their belts besides the stockpiles inside the mine. Upper Big Branch has had three other fatalities in the last dozen years.

At New Life Assembly down the road from the disaster in Pettus, the 51-year-old pastor and miner Williams held a vigil with some of his faithful and had food for families and friends of the dead and missing, though few came.

Most families were sequestered in a building at the mine, the entrance guarded by bright lights, state troopers and hordes of ambulances.

Williams, who works at another Massey mine, said he knows the men at Upper Big Branch were professional and well-trained.

"People tend to think Massey does a lot of wrong, but I've been there for 18 years and they've never asked me to do anything unsafe," he said.

Upper Big Branch has 19 openings and roughly 7-foot ceilings. Inside, it's crisscrossed with railroad tracks used for hauling people and equipment. It is located in a mine-laced swath of Raleigh and Boone counties that is the heart of West Virginia's coal country.

The seam produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the mine safety agency, and has about 200 employees.

"The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate this tragedy, and take action," U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. "Miners should never have to sacrifice their lives for their livelihood

[linbylad]

John, see my posts on this subject in the thread called "and it still goes on". By the way, the mine is in West Virginia not Virginia. Linby Lad.

[dazbt]

Apr 6, 2010 11:38:54 GMT -5 linbylad said:

John, see my posts on this subject in the thread called "and it still goes on". By the way, the mine is in West Virginia not Virginia. Linby Lad.

From your earlier posting Linby Lad;

"Latest news 6:30 AM EST: The four remaining missing miners have been found dead"

many hours after you posted that there has be no confirmation that these four guys have been found, I've searched thro. the internet for international media reports as well as uptodate reports on several Sky news progs. who all state that as at the time of this post that the rescuers have been withdrawn and the fate ofv the four remaining miners is as yet unknown. Where did you find the info that they had perished.
There still has to be hope surely .....

[linbylad]

Quite right Daz. I was typing my first report early in the morning while watching CNN when the report about the missing miners being found dead scrolled across the screen so I sent it in. I've seen nothing since so I assume it was some false information which is often reported in these tragedies (remember the Sago disaster of 2006?). On second thoughts it was probably my geriatric eyes or senile mind. I am sorry to cause you to waste your time but you are probably like me and have nowt else to do in your dotage .

Linby Lad.

[dazbt]

Yer certainly right about misleading statements being bandied around the media, even listening to Mr Manchin's press conference around midday our time some of the numbers were confused and had to be verified as he went along. A couple of things I picked up on, were the statements that one rescue chamber further inbye had not been reached by the rescuers and the fact that some of the self rescuer units from an underground cache had been removed, I suppose it is almost hoping against hope that they made it back to the chamber.
Not sure what a dotage is, but yer not wrong about me having a surplus of time on my hands.

[John]

I was reading about the companies safety history, not very impressive.

It seems there's "teeth" missing out of both federal and state laws over here.
Remember back to our training, who's responsible criminally in both UK and Australian coal mining law??
First and foremost the Manager, then Undermanager/s, Engineers, then those staff working under the Manager and Engineers.
Seems the "MIne Superintendent" is free from criminal intent over here and all falls back on the Corporation.

First and foremost the "Superintendent" should always be in the sites of a criminal charge should the mine not be adhering to the laid down rules. OK, he can be put under pressure by the corporation, but how far?? With criminal charges around the corner, most would not bow to pressure on H&S matters.
If a mine isn't allowed to operate without a competent Manager, the company could be in dire straights if they dismiss a Manager.

Looks like legislators should look to the UK's M&Q Act for guidance, well thought out, brought about and updated based on past disasters. Worked very well for the better part of 150 years with many updates.

Looking at the qualifications for "Mine Foremen" in all the state rules for coalmining, the ticket isn't anywhere near the expertise level as the UK and Australian Deputy's 3rd Class Certificate of Competency.
I've not looked at the "Superintendents" qualifications, but hazard a guess they are barely above a Mine Foremans ticket here.
Recall the technical qualifications trainee Managers took at college??
Surveying, Mechanical, Electrical, including electronics, maths, in the 50's steam engineering, Mining law, geology and rock mechanics etc etc. It was almost a Bsc course. I don't recall how many years college it took, but he had to have already had under his belt a class3 and 2 certificate, quite a few years of college training!!

[linbylad]

Good points there, John. When I emigrated to Wyoming in !975 I started work as an underground electrician in a trona mine. The management showed no interest in my UK qualifications, only the length of time of my underground experience. I had to sit a test compiled by some engineer at the mine (so I was told). It was very basic, concerned with load carrying capacity of cables etc. That was it, I passed and started work with responsibility for two longwall faces. Nobody at the mine could spell longwall .

1 other electrician signed on from England, He had mining experience in South Africa. He finished up on the surface.

An English guy (Geordie) came on board from Alberta, Canada, who had a lot of experience in Canadian and British coal mines. He was a foreman and I had a lot of respect for him.

When I had been there about 2 years, management asked union guys if they were interested in taking Mine Examiner's (deputy) and Mine Forman's (manager) courses. I signed up and attended a local Tech. College for an 80 hour course. At the end of the course I took the tests for both qualifications and passed. The tests only concerned mine (trona) regulations an there were no questions on mine practice at all. Anyone with a good memory who took the course would pass the test easily without ever seeing a mine.

I was given nice certificates to hang in my toilet. These certifications only applied in the State of Wyoming (all states have their own Examining Boards and you have to retest in each state). A fitter who had come over from Blighty at the same time as me and had already received trona qualifications was taking coal mine qualification in the same room. I looked over his shoulder at his test papers (nobody seemed to care) and they were similar to trona but had more questions on methane (only) and air flows etc. He passed both exams. Has far as I know he had no college education in the UK at all.

The following year he left the mine to become a face boss (deputy) at a coal mine under development in Colorado and later became Mine Foreman. He did a good job and when that mine closed he was transferred to one of the companies mines in Kentucky. He did a good job there and was made a regional director with at least 2 mines under his control.

Not bad for a pit fitter, eh Daz? That mine had an AM500 and if you went there you may have met him. I can't think of the mines name. (I know, brains gone). I think it was close to the Mid-Continent mine. On reflection, I think it was originally called Andshuits or something and then they changed it to something more stylish.

Please bear in mind that these qualifications do not mean someone is going to offer you a job based on these alone. Practical experience is addressed by your time spent on the job. In practice most large mines (the ones I worked in) had people who worked above deputy level with college educations. The ones educated to degree level were mostly in upper management or back at corporate HQ. However, as the previous example shows a man (or woman) with good "hands on" ability can get to the top with no formal college education. I suspect that the "mom and pop mines" have a lot of these on the payroll.

Linby Lad.

[John]

When I worked in Oz, the NSW government updated all coal mining laws to reflect more modern technology. That was in the early 1980's, when it came into effect one major change came into law, tradesmen! All those already employed were covered by their experience, all new employees had to have certain qualifications, much like when the 1954 M&Q Act in the UK came into effect. Before, all elecs and fitters just had to have been employed as such in other industries and could prove it. After the date, all elecs had to either have served an apprenticeship in coal mining or have an NSW electricians license.
Not much altered with elec engineers, they still had to have a "mine electricians" certificate, ie elec engineers qualifications and so many years as an electrician in coal mining.
After the new law in the 80's, NSW was on par with the UK in it's laws.

Boulby Mine in the UK was under the Misc Mines Act, so other than the Mine Manager, no formal qualifications were required, just the ability to do the job. BUT, the company insisted that mining shift supervisors had a minimum of class two certificates, (Undermanagers in coalmining), Elec and Mech Engineers had a minimum of a Bsc in mining engineering, both were always ex NCB/BC engineers, Mine Manager always had a class one certificate and a Bsc with one exception to the Class one, Henry Stuckie from South Africa. He had a Bsc and many years of mining experience from South African mining. He was also a senior Director of Anglo! A very knowledgeable gentleman too.

I had a feeling US coalmining qualifications weren't anywhere near as stiff as ours Linbylad.
When I was an apprentice, we had a contracting electrician on the staff at Clifton, he couldn't be authorised as a full unsupervised electrician but as a Reg8 staff. Not much better than we apprentices. He went before the MQB for an aural twice, slipped up on some questions on trailing cables first time, passed the next sitting and was authorised as a "Craftsman Electrician". Which meant he couldn't switch or work on HT circuits or take charge of a mine in the absence of an engineer. This was before the new regs that came in around 1966. So affectively he was a Class two tradesman.

[John]

So this was a colliery using a longwall face.
It's looking more like there was a major gas blower. Some collieries in South Wales were prone to those, including dust with them. Some ended up with ignitions and deaths.
What gets me though, is the extent of this ignition, strikes me UK safety technology is years behind the rest of the world, ie stone dust or water barriers to isolate the section should an ignition occur!
I recall in NSW, one pit was too damp to make proper use of stone dust, so they used rock salt to consolidate the floor dust, together with stone dust, and water barriers. These were flimsy plastic containers holding around twenty gallons of water, in frames across the roadways much like dust barriers we used in UK pits.
If an ignition occurred and propagated down a road, the barriers would rupture and throw water into the air suppressing the advancing ignition.

BUT, I'd still be thinking of tightening up on the theory and practical side of senior mine officials qualifications and making them the first in line for criminal charges should regulations be ignored. Much as our Managers and Undermanagers were.

Can you imagine some of these mines over here with the Inspectors we had and regs as tough as the M&Q Act???
I was in the M/G of a face when a Mines Inspector caught the stablehole men in breach of the Act one dayshift! I've never seen a man move so fast!
They were advancing the stage loader using a staker and reversing it when he marched up and caught them red handed!
This was before hydraulic rams were fitted to the stage loaders or the stage loader coupled to the AFC.
"YOU! Name and number, YOU! name and number. All four got fined 100 pounds each! a hell of a lot of money way back around 1966. Switchman got his butt kicked, Deputy was put on report even though he was way up the face, Overman being an official was put on report.
Face stopped for an hour or two while he wrote his report out.
That was our last contract face too. The others were on the NPLA.
Once he'd left the district, it was business as usual.
Over the weekend, hydraulic rams were fitted to the stage loaders on all faces.

[dazbt]

Apr 9, 2010 15:58:08 GMT -5 John said:

So this was a colliery using a longwall face.
It's looking more like there was a major gas blower. Some collieries in South Wales were prone to those, including dust with them. Some ended up with ignitions and deaths.
What gets me though, is the extent of this ignition, strikes me UK safety technology is years behind the rest of the world, ie stone dust or water barriers to isolate the section should an ignition occur!
I recall in NSW, one pit was too damp to make proper use of stone dust, so they used rock salt to consolidate the floor dust, together with stone dust, and water barriers. These were flimsy plastic containers holding around twenty gallons of water, in frames across the roadways much like dust barriers we used in UK pits.
If an ignition occurred and propagated down a road, the barriers would rupture and throw water into the air suppressing the advancing ignition.

BUT, I'd still be thinking of tightening up on the theory and practical side of senior mine officials qualifications and making them the first in line for criminal charges should regulations be ignored. Much as our Managers and Undermanagers were.

Can you imagine some of these mines over here with the Inspectors we had and regs as tough as the M&Q Act???
I was in the M/G of a face when a Mines Inspector caught the stablehole men in breach of the Act one dayshift! I've never seen a man move so fast!
They were advancing the stage loader using a staker and reversing it when he marched up and caught them red handed!
This was before hydraulic rams were fitted to the stage loaders or the stage loader coupled to the AFC.
"YOU! Name and number, YOU! name and number. All four got fined 100 pounds each! a hell of a lot of money way back around 1966. Switchman got his butt kicked, Deputy was put on report even though he was way up the face, Overman being an official was put on report.
Face stopped for an hour or two while he wrote his report out.
That was our last contract face too. The others were on the NPLA.
Once he'd left the district, it was business as usual.
Over the weekend, hydraulic rams were fitted to the stage loaders on all faces.

"strikes me UK safety technology is years behind the rest of the world"
did you really mean 'UK' or should that be US, typo or Freudian?

[John]

Typo Daz, should have read US not UK.

If the emphasis is to fine rich corporations "bread crumbs" for violations of regulations, it's already failed in it's protection of workers.
First line of "attack" for Inspectors should be the most senior supervisor of a mine, the Manager. Who should be 100% responsible for everything that happens at that mine.
Mind you, even that doesn't always work, as the Chinese are finding out. And they have the death penalty!!

[dazbt]

"Mines in West Virginia may be required to install barometers"

I had great difficulty in believing that I had read this correctly, ................................................................... 'You mean coal mines in West Virginia haven't already got barometers and some established statutory means of monitoring them?'

[John]

Where was that posted Daz? I'd have thought every coal mine around the world would have had a barometer to monitor outside air pressure. Even in places where it's not mandatory.

[dazbt]

Apr 22, 2010 6:06:15 GMT -5 John said:

Where was that posted Daz? I'd have thought every coal mine around the world would have had a barometer to monitor outside air pressure. Even in places where it's not mandatory.

I'm surprised you haven't seen it J, the following quote provided courtesy of USMRA;
"West Virginia Proposes New Mine-Safety Rules

Wall Street Journal

April 21, 2010

The West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Safety and Health will issue new proposed regulations intended to make the state's mines safer following the explosion this month at a Massey Energy Co. mine that killed 29 miners.


The board will propose three rules aimed at improving maps, evacuations and drills related to mine fires, two rules adding requirements for mine rescue teams and a rule mandating that each mine office has a barometer to monitor air pressure changes that can affect methane concentrations inside mines. Another rule would require that methane monitors on machines be tested and calibrated every 15 days.


Methane, an explosive gas that occurs naturally in coal seams, was believed to have played a role in this month's fatal explosion.


Joel Watts, health and safety administrator for the board, said the rules will be officially proposed Thursday morning when he delivers a draft to West Virginia's secretary of state. That action will begin a 30-day public comment period, before the board will respond to those comments.


Mr. Watts declined to say if the new rules are a direct result of the April 5 accident at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in Mont coal, W.Va., or any preliminary findings by investigators. "I cannot say one way or the other because the investigation is still ongoing," he said.


Federal mine-safety officials have said that the massive explosion at the mine was likely caused by an accumulation of methane gas and could have been made more severe by coal dust. At one point during the rescue efforts, mine rescue teams had to be withdrawn from the mine when methane levels increased as a weather front approached and barometric pressure dropped.


The six-member board is made up of three industry representatives and three union representatives, all appointed by the West Virginia governor. The board is charged with making sure the state's coal mining health and safety regulations are effective. The board can write new rules, or alter or eliminate others.


Meanwhile, federal mine-safety regulators said Wednesday they began an "inspection blitz" over the weekend focusing on 57 underground coal mines with a history of problems involving ventilation and methane accumulation, among other things.


More than 275 Mine Safety and Health Administration coal-mine enforcement personnel were sent to the mines, more than half of which were located in West Virginia and Kentucky, the agency said. The agency said results of the inspections would be made public as they become available.


MSHA began the review after the explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine.


"The purpose of these inspections is to provide assurance that no imminent dangers, explosions, hazards or other serious health or safety conditions and practices are present at these mines," Joe Main, the head of MSHA, said in a statement. "Just last week, we pledged to the president that we will do whatever it takes to make sure another tragedy like the one that claimed 29 miners' lives at Upper Big Branch never happens again."


Of the 57 mines subject to the inspections, nine are owned by Massey. Five are owned by Consol Energy Inc. Another five are owned by Patriot Coal Corp., while three are owned by Peabody Energy Corp. and two by Alpha Natural Resources LLC. Most of the remaining mines are owned by privately held companies."

It is a bit more than surprising to think that barometers are not used in any coal mine, even children in the UK are taught in school science lessons that barometers are an essential part of coal mining operations . The relationship between the rate of evolvement of mine gasses and barometric pressure variations has been understood and supposedly acted upon for more than one hundred years, at least in the UK (and like you I would have thought throughout the world)

[John]

No, not seen that one Daz, I'm really surprised legislation here in all coal mining states doesn't state that barometers must be used at every colliery.
We used barographs in NSW pits, the graph had to be kept in records at the colliery. The instrument was kept close to the lamproom in a convenient place for any employee to check before going underground.
And I recall the barometer at UK pits, usually was kept in deployment centres or close to the manriding shaft.

Angus Place had a blackdamp problem from the old longwall goafs, so checking the barograph before going underground when I had pumps to examine in the T/G was usual practice for me.