<p>And to compare someones home to a mine shaft is so pathetic</p>
<p>That just shows how little you understand about the toughness of that job, the dangers</p>
<p>Tell one of those wives who lost the father of their children that their home is as dangerous as a mine, tell them that when their husband went down over a thousand feet into the earth to get coal for you, that it was the same as if he was in his garage</p>
<p>Tell her that</p>
<p>This appears to be a balanced view of the situation and mining in general. Note that mine safety has dramatically improved in recent years.
<a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p02s02-ussc.html[/url]”>http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p02s02-ussc.html</a></p>
<p>Well, here is some reporting about this particular company
<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1146159,00.html[/url]”>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1146159,00.html</a>
In 2004 there were 68 safety violations at the mine. Last year, there were 208 violations, including 96 considered “significant” by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Since ICG bought Sago and reopened it in 2004, there have been 276 violations, including four citations for allowing combustible coal dust and gases to accumulate and 22 for failing to implement a proper ventilation plan. Portions of the mine were shut down 18 times last year because of safety problems, according to Federal mine officials, who plan to investigate the accident.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/shared/news/nation/stories/2006/01/NATMINESIDE0105a_5REP.html[/url]”>http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/shared/news/nation/stories/2006/01/NATMINESIDE0105a_5REP.html</a></p>
<p>It is amazing hwo no matter what, some people will defend corporations and companies to the end, no matter how bad they are</p>
<p>Interesting that</p>
<p>fundungfather, did you ever have a job that was dangerous</p>
<p>I have and my H currently does, so safety is paramount, but so long as the money is made, who cares if people die due to negligence</p>
<p>soccerguy- you are free to start your own thread on whatever you want
fr instance tonight I heard info about how the CIA is hiring Saddam Hussiens men to advise them
( Kinda like how we hired japanese and german scientists after WWII to help us develop our germ warfare program)
If talking about tragic accidents like this help motivate people to fight for better workers rights and safer working conditions, then something positive may come out of it that may have effects where you would least expect it.
I didn’t start the thread to bemoan all the deaths in the world- in fact when I started it, I thought they were alive as did apparently the governor when he commented on that fact to a relative.
However I think it is worth noting that thousands of workers in the united states perfom in very risky jobs, and especially when those jobs are not as highly skilled as say a test pilot or astronaut, they and their families are not always compensated for that risk.( and they may not even be aware of the level of risk involved)</p>
<p>My goodness is right - why not wait for an investigation before placing blame? And before calling in the lawyers to sue everyone in sight. The U.S. is losing it’s competitive position, at least partly because we’re so litigious. </p>
<p>“this was most likely preventable” - can you please post the link to the expert who knows the cause and says it was preventable?</p>
<p>It sounds like the workers were doing everything they were supposed to do- without commenting on the design and safety of the mine itself- which I don’t know much about- I hope that this will lead to more useful safety precautions- I suppose canistered oxygen would be too risky to have below ground- but maybe something else?</p>
<p>CGM, do you ever leave attack mode? All I posted was a balanced view of mining safety and noted that it has dramatically improved over the years - to the point where truck drivers are probably in a much higher risk job. What does that have to do with what kind of jobs that I had? And, yes, I have had dangerous jobs.</p>
<p>Ahhh I didn’t realize they didn’t even have a union to protest their rights and safety</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because the mining company had numerous citations for unsafe conditions, that is why I am angry</p>
<p>They would fix them when caught, but many of the citations they have would have led to, gee, the explosion and lack of ventalation that killed 12 hard working men</p>
<p>Yeah, and why is are some people so quick to defend industry and say, well, so we lose a few employees to keep our competitive edge</p>
<p>blame the lawyers</p>
<p>don’t blame the ceo’s that make tens of thousands of times the money their employees make</p>
<p>don’t blame the owners who knew they had serious safety problems and then did nothing until caught</p>
<p>and yes, your jobs matter, ff, cause did you have safe guards…did you have protection</p>
<p>and we have had more truck accidents lately, and it is because drivers are driving longer, due to changes in regulations where they are made to drive longer</p>
<p>so the more we let industry do whatever it wants the more people will die, not thinking that the people making the big bucks have any responsiblity</p>
<p>ff, if that was your son or daughter down there, I think you might not be so protective and defensive</p>
<p>and remember, progress is all relative</p>
<p>emeraldkity4</p>
<p>I have no reason to start a new thread. I was merely pointing out that these 12 people are getting more coverage than thousands of people combined will get throughout the year, and I’m looking for perspective. Blowing things out of proportion accomplishes nothing. </p>
<p>You will also notice in my first post that I questioned why the mine was in operation with all of the safety citations. And as for not having a union, maybe they should have made one. It works like this, all the workers get together and don’t work until things are fixed.</p>
<p>As long as there are workers to work in dangerous places, companies will continue to cut on overhead for working conditions (aka safety) until they don’t have enough workers. Those fines are way to small. It’s like when the NFL fines a player $10,000 out of his $7,000,000. Won’t changes the player’s actions, and it won’t change the mining companies actions.</p>
<p>If anyone’s interested about the media side, this should provide some info: <a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/mediaforcedtoexplaininaccuratereportsontragedy[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/mediaforcedtoexplaininaccuratereportsontragedy</a> … half of 250 US papers looked at by the Newseum ran front page stories that the miners were alive. Also talks about the second hand reports that were used and soon written as fact, without confirmation.</p>
<p>are you kidding?
this will be forgotten in a month- meanwhile brangleina will be getting coverage till the baby is born.
sorry I don’t have time to explain that it isnt just a matter of refusing to work in a dangerous area and just isn’t as simple as getting the workers together to join a union.
My daughter just had her wisdom teeth out and she hasn’t been able to keep anything down including her medication all day, as soon as we think it is better, it isn’t :(</p>
<p>This may not be forgotten in a month in a congressman decides that it might be worth looking into the quality of federal oversight of mining. Did Bush put the fox in charge of the hen house…that is what some people think it looks like. If found guilty a teenager selling crack will get more jail time than CEOs who trade profit for lives. </p>
<p>Emeraldkity4, I hope your family is betting back to normal and that your daughter is well.</p>
<p>I’m not suprised that the news channels screwed up this story like they have every other story, and still don’t understand what news is. They keep reporting the story of how the mining company and every besides them screwed up the story and reported that 12 were alive. morons.</p>
<p>fundingfather I read the balanced report that says mine safety has improved since 1976 (the year Carter was elected.) Do you know if it is still on the decline? I would expect with technology it would be.</p>
<p>It is frustrating how the anger is displayed to the media, as if they caused the deaths of the miners</p>
<p>Shoot the messenger, I guess</p>
<p>Amd with the people in charge of the interior department ex mining management I ams sure we will get an accurate account of the accident</p>
<p>watch them blaim the miners themselves and the owners walk away</p>
<p>Think Progress.com:</p>
<p>On Monday, the Bush administrations top mine safety official, David Dye, appeared before a Senate subcommittee to explain the administrations response to the Sago mining disaster. Specifically, senators wanted to know why mine safety has been consistently underfunded under President Bush, and why regulations have been rolled back or weakly enforced.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, David Dye has a busy schedule. After an hour of questioning, Dye announced he had some really pressing matters to attend to, and asked to leave the hearing. Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) urged him not to: Your presence will be required here for at least one more hour.</p>
<p>But Dye insisted:</p>
<p>We have been diverted, dealing with these matters. We were happy to prepare for the hearing, but we really need to get back and attend to all this. Theres 15,000 mines in the United States, and weve got some really pressing matters.</p>
<p>The New York Times describes what occured next:</p>
<p>After Mr. Specter added, Thats the committees request, but youre not under subpoena, Mr. Dye got up and walked out.</p>
<p>I cant recollect it ever happening before, Mr. Specter said of the departure. Well find a way to take appropriate note of it.</p>
<p>Guess this is not important enough for the people in charge of mine safety</p>
<p>Well, looking at the effectiveness of the hearings of past weeks, almost anyone would have more pressing matters than answering the members’ questions … or , better stated, listening to the grand-standing of overly loquacious members. </p>
<p>The way I see it, there is nothing that could be accomplished in the second hour that could not have been done in the first sixty minutes. Did they even ask a pointed question during the first hour? </p>
<p>I applaud David Dye to have the courage to take a stand.</p>
<p>Take a stand, you are joking, right? Well, those miners in the ground for 48 hours or whatever, and that measly little man couldn’t spare another hour when lives are at risk?</p>
<p>And they did ask pointed questions, he didn’t answer them very well</p>
<p>My goodness, but you sure can make excuses for incompetence, can’t you.</p>
<p>So much for check and balances- your imperial Presidents minions don’t even have to answer questions about doing a bad job, who hoo bet all the miners wives and children feel so much better that the head of mine safety spared them an hour of his oh so busy schedule</p>
<p>What could possibly be more important than the lives of American Citizens working so you can live better? Unless his wife was in labor at their very second, their is nothing that he needed to do that was more important than peoples safety and doing his job for the American People-
Man, oh, man</p>
<p>Now, you will say, well, the administration people had to deal personally with a fire in a mine and another mess in another one</p>
<p>Doesn’t fly, sorry- those were being handled, it was excuse and a snub of a body wondering what the %(&*# is going on in the mining industry</p>