Feds Call For Nationwide Safety Stand Down

The feds are calling for a nationwide safety stand down on Monday. This coming after West Virginia Governor Manchin at first demanded a state wide shutdown Wednesday. He quickly backed off the mandatory shutdown and said it would be a voluntary action. So what do the big operators in Virginia think about the federal stand down? From the BHC:

Officials of Abingdon-based Alpha Natural Resources, one of the region's largest coal companies, stress safety each week, said spokesman Ted Pile.
The company also has operations in West Virginia and will comply with a similar voluntary safety check request from the state's governor in response to the deaths of 16 coal miners in four separate incidents, he said.
"The safety inspections that MSHA requested Monday are typically what we do before each shift at the beginning of the work week, so it's not anything out of the ordinary," Pile said. "We have regularly scheduled production shutdowns for workplace examination and safety reviews as well as group discussions about workplace hazards."

I think most companies have had weekly safety meetings for years. It appears to me the government just has to do something to grandstand. The good thing is they are letting the professionals inspect and coordinate safety. I said after Sago many would grandstand, but in the end there is nothing to change. The mining industry has progressively been getting safer and brought the mining fatalities to a all time low. They will continue to do so without political grandstanding. Accidents are bad business, plain and simple. Production stops and so does income. That is something that companies understand.

Technorati : Coal, Mining, News