LAST month, 25-year-old Stevie Joe Browning was killed at Rockhouse Creek Development's No. 8 Mine in Mingo County. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration had not completed quarterly inspections of that mine as required by law.
Indeed, the federal agency was behind on thorough inspections at four of the eight West Virginia pits where miners have died this year.
Staff cuts and a policy of substituting less thorough spot inspections are the culprits. It gets worse.
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The result is that MSHA is behind on its inspections in 60 percent of the active underground mines in Southern West Virginia, reporter Ken Ward Jr. disclosed.
When mine safety laws are not enforced, they are not followed, and miners die.
Under the Bush administration, it became policy to skip some regular, complete reviews. Less-thorough spot inspections were substituted. However useful a spot inspection may be as an additional precaution, it cannot substitute for more general scrutiny of these dangerous workplaces.
MSHA has been struggling for some time. Skilled staff members have left the agency. Others have retired. The turnover and vacancies, combined with a more lax attitude toward safety, have weakened the federal government's role in ensuring a work environment that is as safe as possible.
We've mentioned this before, but kudos to Gazette reporter Ken Ward Jr. for exposing the lack of inspections and kudos to Rep. Nick Rahall and Sen. Robert C. Byrd for doing something about it.
