Overlooked American Tragedies

The barrage of paper violations received by the Sago mine since February of 2004 totaled 271. Despite the fact that two dozen workers were injured in the mine during that period, leading up to the disaster that claimed the lives of 12 miners on January 2^nd, no changes took place to improve the safety of the mine. The citations issued by the Mining Safety and Health Administration presented, at worst, nominal fines, the largest of which for $440 to the International Coal Group, Inc which boasted net profits of $110 million last year alone.

The MSHA almost never uses the more serious and substantial sanctions in its power, such as issuing large fines or closing down operations. When inspectors do seek to issue substantial fines they often see the numbers gutted by judges and agency negotiators. The initial fine to a Brookwood, Ala where 12 miners were killed in 2001 was $435,000. The final number was reduced to $3,000.

This is a tendency symptomatic of the Bush administration which pledged to bolster new ties between the Mining industry and regulatory agencies (a promise almost identical to the administrations rhetoric on environmental regulation). In the last five years the number of mines referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution has decreased alarmingly – from 36 in 2001 to merely 12 in 2005. As a result of this trend, continuing to operate mines with literally hundreds of violations on the books has become a commonplace practice.

The lax enforcement of the mining industry would lead one to believe that fatal accidents in that industry were extremely, perhaps exceptionally, rare. In fact miners are killed in the United States with disturbing frequency. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a chilling 152 workers were killed in the Mining industry in 2004. In 2003 that number was 141. Mining also presents the second highest rate of workplace fatalities of any industry (behind Hunting and Agriculture) at 28 of every 100,000 employed.

Mine disasters like Sago have drawn sporadic public attention across the country for years: in Utah in 1984; Kentucky in 1989; Virginia in 1992; Arizona in 1993; and Alabama in 2001. Indeed, on January 10^th, scarcely one week after the Sago incident, Cornelius Yates was crushed by a falling bolder and killed in another West Virginia mine.

The problem is a classic case of “industry capture.” The outcries that follow the isolated and scattered – though frequent – mining deaths has failed to translate into an increase in public awareness of the problem. The presence of active pressure encouraging mining safety has been only sporadic. The industry, however, is always there - pressuring the government to look the other way. Indeed legislatures have cut or relaxed the responsibilities of employers to their workforce across the United States.

The only real solution lies in a greater public awareness of the dangerous lot of American workers today – dangers not limited to those working in the mines. A sense of urgency needs to be built around the overlooked fact that over five thousand workers are killed on the job in America every single year (a number that shows no signs of consistent decline). Calling the Sago incident a “disaster” is misleading. Fatal events in mines are not the exception. They are the rule. Only when this reality is acknowledged in the rhetoric of our politicians and the content of our media will it be possible to work towards a solution.