Editorial: No breather for safety

Monday, Aug. 7, 2006 | 6:59 a.m.

State inspectors who examined Kentucky's underground mining operations found breathing devices that were of the type used by miners who perished in two of the nation's most recent accidents.

According to a story by the Associated Press, inspectors removed 134 of the devices because they were defective, but untold numbers of that same model remain in use. It is the model that was used by three miners who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in May after an explosion in their eastern Kentucky mine. The packs also were used by the 13 workers who were trapped in West Virginia's Sago Mine in January. Only one of those men survived.

State officials say the inspections "produced the desired effects" by finding defective equipment and improving safety. But what hasn't changed is the fact that the type of packs confiscated are still approved for use unless they are defective.

Despite years of government studies showing that these particular packs require users to breathe harder and inhale more carbon monoxide than other brands, the units still have the blessing of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the AP reports. The institute is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and mining companies may supply their workers with any of the apparatus approved by the agency.

Other models require less effort on the part of users and offer less carbon monoxide exposure, so it is a wonder that the federal regulators allow the brand recently confiscated in Kentucky to remain on its list of approved equipment.

Few can forget January's tragedy in West Virginia's Sago Mine, in which 13 men remained trapped underground for two days as the rest of the nation watched and waited. When word arrived that the miners had been found, a misunderstanding led miners' families to believe that 12 of them had survived, when in fact 12 had died. Subsequent investigations suggest the miners' air packs were faulty. It's a wonder these types of units are still being used. The CDC institute in charge of approving the air packs that miners use needs to update its studies and seriously consider its continued approval of the type of pack confiscated from Kentucky's mines. If there are other and better options out there, miners should have them.