{"id":17055,"date":"2010-04-07T16:56:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T23:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=17055"},"modified":"2010-04-07T19:53:12","modified_gmt":"2010-04-08T02:53:12","slug":"because-everyone-should-go-home-from-work-alive-and-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/07\/because-everyone-should-go-home-from-work-alive-and-healthy.html","title":{"rendered":"Because everyone should go home from work alive and healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mining business is a dangerous one. Over 2600 people died in mining accidents in China last year, which perhaps gives some perspective on the 25 deaths at the Upper Big Branch Mine<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Except … it doesn’t.\u00a0 Not really.<\/p>\n

Mining is dangerous.\u00a0 But y’know what?\u00a0 I work for a major international engineering firm.\u00a0 We have people — engineers and construction and maintenance personnel — at some pretty dangerous locations, too.\u00a0 Chemical plants.\u00a0 Petroleum refineries. Road and bridge and building construction sites.\u00a0 And, yes, mine sites.<\/p>\n

Every injury, let alone any death, whether one of our own or a subcontractor, is considered unacceptable.\u00a0 Any workplace injury that causes lost time or a doctor’s visit is reported up to the CEO within 24 hours.\u00a0 That includes motor vehicle accidents on company business.\u00a0 It’s analyzed for the root cause.\u00a0 For how people and practice failed.\u00a0 Every injury, let alone any death, is considered a failure on the company’s part. Our goal is to drive below zero accidents, to make sure that every employee, every sub, goes home each night to their family safe and whole.<\/p>\n

Any activity that might cause danger is analyzed, and a safe plan of action is drawn up.\u00a0\u00a0 If dangerous circumstances are found — and they are actively sought out, whether in the field or at the home office — work stops, reports are made, the situation is corrected.\u00a0 Initiative is rewarded, even when it costs time and money.<\/p>\n

It’s not easy.\u00a0 As I said, engineering and construction can be dangerous.\u00a0 Moreover, it requires us to force subcontractors to act more safely than they might otherwise.\u00a0 It requires us to force our clients to act more safely than they might otherwise, to convince them that safety is the most important thing they should be concerned with.<\/p>\n

And it works.\u00a0 We have one of the industry’s best safety records.\u00a0 And that still isn’t enough.\u00a0 As long as anyone is being injured or killed, it’s not enough for our management, myself included.<\/p>\n

And then there’s this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Blankenship Branded Deadly Fire At Dangerous Aracoma Mine \u201cStatistically Insignificant.\u201d<\/strong> In the most egregious case of preventable death before the Upper Big Branch explosion, Massey\u2019s Aracoma Coal Co. agreed to \u201cplead guilty to 10 criminal charges, including one felony, and pay $2.5 million in criminal fines\u201d after two workers died in a fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine in Melville, West Virginia. Massey also paid $1.7 million in civil fines. The mine \u201chad 25 violations of mandatory health and safety laws\u201d before the fire on January 19, 2006, but Massey CEO Don Blankenship passed the deaths off as \u201cstatistically insignificant.\u201d [Logan Banner, 9\/1\/06<\/a>; Charleston Gazette, 12\/24\/08<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Federal Mine Inspector Who Wanted To Shut Down Mine Told To \u201cBack Off.\u201d<\/strong> Days before fire broke out in the Aracoma mine, a federal mine inspector tried to close down that section of the mine, but \u201cwas told by his superior to back off and let them run coal, that there was too much demand for coal.\u201d Massey failed to notify authorities of the fire until two hours after the disaster. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4\/23\/06<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Blankenship Memo: \u201cCoal Pays the Bills.\u201d<\/strong> Three months before the Aracoma mine fire, Massey CEO Don Blankenship sent managers a memo saying, \u201cIf any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers or anyone else to do anything other than run coal . . . you need to ignore them and run coal. This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills.\u201d [Logan Banner, 9\/1\/06<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t know about the legality — though reckless disregard is usually considered a factor in homicide investigations — but I can say without hesitation that this is highly immoral.\u00a0 Sinful, if you will.\u00a0 It’s valuing things over people, and willfully being negligent for the purposes of greed.<\/p>\n

And, as my own company indicates, it’s unnecessary, which makes it, if possible, even worse.<\/p>\n

The government cannot impose morality, but it can restrain immorality.\u00a0 That’s what regulation <\/em>is about.\u00a0 Regulation is not a dirty word, no matter what the pro-business pols tell you.\u00a0 The complicity of the government — more specifically the Bush Administration — in enabling Blankenship and Massey Energy to treat profit as more important than safety, even when it cost lives and health — stands as stark testimony as to why government regulation is needed.<\/p>\n

Not for the sake of bureaucracy.\u00a0 Not for some anti-business Marxist utopian ideal.\u00a0\u00a0 But because the alternative is injury and death.\u00a0 The crippling or ending of human lives.<\/em> People like you, or me, or those 29 miners in West Virginia, and the families and friends they leave behind.\u00a0 And anyone who says that’s acceptable, or pragmatically necessary, is complicit in that crime.<\/p>\n

And, dare I say it, sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mining business is a dangerous one. Over 2600 people died in mining accidents in China last year, which perhaps gives some perspective on the 25 deaths at the Upper Big Branch Mine this week. Except … it doesn’t.\u00a0 Not really. Mining is dangerous.\u00a0 But y’know what?\u00a0 I work for a major international engineering firm.\u00a0 … Continue reading “Because everyone should go home from work alive and healthy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,9,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-politics-law","category-religion-me"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11460,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/23\/because_what_have_they_go.html","url_meta":{"origin":17055,"position":0},"title":"Because what have they got left to lose?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Aug-07 10:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"I suppose when you're a lame duck Administration looking to cash in a few last favors no matter what the public thinks, you pull stuff like this. 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Embedded Link Google-Backed Asteroid Mining Venture Attracts Billionaires Planetary Resources Inc., an asteroid-mining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26499,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/17\/target-knows-if-youve-been-bad-or-good.html","url_meta":{"origin":17055,"position":2},"title":"Target knows if you''ve been bad or good","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 17-Feb-12 11:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":".. or if you're pregnantI can see where this could cause some major problems, but it's also a fascinating look at human behavior and the issues involved in commercially tracking said behavior.My mom said to me on the phone today, \"I guess nothing we do is private any more.\" To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28484,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/09\/black-lung-is-back-oh-boy.html","url_meta":{"origin":17055,"position":3},"title":"Black lung is back, oh boy!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Jul-12 3:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Black lung disease, that old-timey coal mining disease, is making a resurgence. 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