MINE DISASTER WILL LEAD TO HEIGHTENED ENFORCEMENT

摘要

It was only a matter of time. In the wake of the coal mine tragedy at Massey Energy Co., which claimed the lives of 29 miners, I keep hearing that the coal industry was "due" for another catastrophe.rnOnly a couple of weeks before the Easter Monday explosion, the Mine Safety and Health Administration celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Coal Safety Act and speaker after speaker at the event emphasized that the past two years (2008 and 2009) have been the safest in American mining history in terms of fatalities. Speakers from MSHA, Congress and the unions credited this to enhanced MSHA enforcement. The one industry speaker on the program suggested that companies' improved safety cultures played a contributing role.