Tony Oppegard
Tony Oppegard
bush certainly desire develop mining safety suffered ties
The Bush administration ushered in this desire to develop cooperative ties between regulators and the mining industry. Safety has certainly suffered as a result.
alert attorney company criminal failure possible referred time
From the time that the company got its first unwarrantable failure, that put them on alert that those examinations weren't being conducted properly. Such unwarrantable failure is just intolerable, and that should be referred to the U.S. attorney for possible criminal prosecution.
enviable safety
That is not a very enviable safety record.
cents speeding
It's like fining you or me 25 cents for a speeding violation.
continuous guy machine miner operate worth
They see tomorrow, they don't see the future. They don't think they're getting their money's worth ... if a guy can't operate a continuous miner or a roof-bolting machine tomorrow.
indicative operator safety
I would say that these are indicative of an operator who wasn't going to let safety get in the way of production.
discharge foreman miner relying
If you have a foreman who is not doing pre-shift examinations properly, you should discharge that person, because every miner working there is relying on that person.
bet extent operator pay
If an operator is undercapitalized to the extent that he can't pay his fines, he shouldn't be in business. You can bet he's skimping on safety.
cost deterrent factor high minimal operators pay
Most of the fines are not high enough to have a real deterrent effect. If the operators know they're not going to have to pay the fines, or that they will be minimal fines, they just factor that into the cost of doing business.
concerned mine operator sign troubling
Basically, if you see 73 accumulation violations, that's a sign of a mine operator who is not too concerned with safety. It's troubling if you see that many.
court pick
You can pick which court will be better for you.
finite guys supply
They want guys who are 30 to 35 years old, and there is a finite supply of them.
across conditions employers expect miners table testify unsafe
You can't expect miners to come in and testify about unsafe conditions in the mine when you have their employers across the table from them.
good
There are some good recommendations. It's a good start.