Lasting Memorial for Slaughtered Miners: Criminal Liability for Reckless Owners

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/04/16/lasting-memorial-for-slaughtered-miners-criminal-liability-for-reckless-owners/

by Leo W. Gerard, Apr 16, 2010

As at Upper Big Branch, a coal dust and methane explosion ripped through the Westray mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, early in the morning. As at Upper Big Branch, rescuers discovered bodies, but toxic air forced them out before they could account for all missing miners. After five days, dangerous conditions permanently ended the search for the missing 11 at Westray. They’re entombed in the hazardous workplace that took their lives, a mine like Upper Big Branch that had been cited for dust and methane violations.

Nova Scotia erected a memorial over the spot where the bodies of the 11 are believed to be, with plaques bearing the names of the miners killed. West Virginia, no doubt, will commemorate those killed at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch.

But Canada did something more. It criminalized corporate disregard for worker safety. It’s called the Westray Law.

America needs its own such statute-an Upper Big Branch Law-holding corporate managers and directors criminally accountable for ditching safety for dollars.

Fines and lawsuit settlements have proved ineffective in forcing the likes of Massey to reform. For example, in December 2008, Massey paid $4.2 million in criminal fines and civil penalties because it had removed ventilation controls in its Aracoma mine, contributing to the deaths of two miners there on Jan. 19, 2006. To put the effect of that punishment in perspective, in that same year Massey paid its CEO, Don Blankenship, a salary more than twice that amount-$11.2 million.

In the 12 months after the $4.2 million admonishment, Massey racked up twice as many violations at Upper Big Branch as it had in 2008. The violations included explosive coal dust and methane build-ups, and they were so serious that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in August 2009 designated Upper Big Branch as a mine requiring increased scrutiny by inspectors. But it escaped those extra examinations because it appealed so many of its citations, according to Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who has worked for years to improve mine safety.

FULL story at link.

[goclark]

1. Jail time is not good enough for this thug nt

[Petrushka]

2. K & R

:kick: