Terri Whitehouse November 19th, 2007

An article in the Washington Post paints a stark picture of mine safety oversight:

U.S. mine safety regulators failed to conduct inspections required by federal law at more than one in seven of the country’s 731 underground coal mines last year, a year in which the number of worker deaths in mining accidents more than doubled to 47, a government report says.

Budget constraints and a lack of management emphasis on worker safety by the Bush administration are responsible for the lapses, the Labor Department inspector general said in a report released yesterday. The report details the department’s failure to meet inspection mandates of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

Of course, we already knew that, now, didn’t we?

• Coal Miner Safety , Elaine Chao , Secretary of Labor
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