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36 www.coalage.com July 2016 safety report continued accident at Arch Coal's Lone Mountain Processing Huff Creek No. 1 operation in Kentucky that took the life of 30-year min- er Mark Frazier, 48. In the alert, investigators said the victim received fatal injuries when an overhanging section of a rock rib fell, pinning him against the mine's haulage equipment. The fallen rib was measured at 44 feet long, 4 ft wide and 2 ft thick. Frazier, as MSHA also reported in its preliminary findings, had been remotely It was certainly a period no one wants to repeat. Just days after the start of 2006, on January 2 Just days after the start of 2006, on January 2 at 6:30 a.m., an explosion at the Sago opera- tion in West Virginia rocked the mountain town of Tallmansville and the 29 workers who were underground at the time. While 16 were able to escape, 12 did not. Another one was left with serious, permanent injuries. With so many lives lost, one couldn't imagine things getting worse — but they did. Just weeks later, on January 19, two miners were killed in later, on January 19, two miners were killed in an underground fire at the Aracoma mine, also in southern West Virginia. It was one of many things that would go on to plague then-owner and now-defunct operator Massey Energy. On May 20, another five miners died after a second mine explosion, this time at the Darby operation in Kentucky. Between the Sago and Darby incidents, a period of a little more than four months, a total of 31 coal miners were killed on the job. A staggering total of 47 coal workers nationwide died over the course of 2006. While some in the industry have historically While some in the industry have historically been critical of MSHA for having a "knee-jerk" reaction to such significant circumstances, the agency's response to this set of incidents — the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, or MINER Act — brought with it many changes that have altered the face of mining as we know it, one of the most im- portant of them being the implementation of advanced miner communication and tracking systems that are now commonplace where there were nearly absent just a decade ago. The MINER Act, developed after those 19 combined deaths by a bipartisan Congressio- nal group, became the first set of revisions to federal mine safety regulations since 1977 (and the most notable new laws enacted in three de- cades). They also forced the coal mining indus- try, for better or worse, to conduct underground try, for better or worse, to conduct underground operations in a significantly different way. "The MINER Act improved mine safety and emergency response preparedness at our na- tion's coal mines by increasing training, up- grading mining standards, improving mine emergency response and requiring enhanced technology underground for post-disaster com- munications," Joseph Main, MSHA assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, secretary of labor for mine safety and health, has said of the outlines. "The act required the industry to have a cadre "The act required the industry to have a cadre of better trained mine rescue teams ready to res- cue coal miners when needed. Miners trapped in a disaster now have chambers in which to take refuge, directional lifelines to guide them out, and increased caches of emergency air to keep them alive while emergency response teams put man- dated mine emergency plans into action to locate and rescue them. In cases of mine accidents with multiple fatalities, the MINER Act established the role of a family liaison as a communications link to miners' families while they await word about their loved ones." While it doesn't seem possible that 10 years have passed since that unfortunate group of fa- have passed since that unfortunate group of fa- talities occurred, there is no denying that the reg- ulations they helped shape within the MINER Act helps ensure that their deaths were not in vain. Also, MSHA continued its momentum by making several other changes in the years that followed, including upgrading its own mine emer- gency mobile command centers and response equipment and adding upgraded skills training for mine rescue teams across the U.S. Likely the result of issues encountered during the Sago mine incident, the agency has also expanded its family liaison program to include support for its family liaison program to include support for loved ones following any mining death, not just those that grab national headlines. "Since the MINER Act's passage 10 years ago, the mining industry has seen profound ago, the mining industry has seen profound changes," Main said in June as he marked the anniversary of the regulations. "In fact, 2015 anniversary of the regulations. "In fact, 2015 marked the safest year in mining history with marked the safest year in mining history with the fewest number of mining deaths and the lowest fatality and injury rates ever recorded. lowest fatality and injury rates ever recorded. "Our work, however, continues. We remain focused on doing whatever we must to return miners to their loved ones — safe and healthy — after every shift." — after every shift." Sago, Aracoma and Darby: 10 Years Later A mine explosion at the Darby operation in Kentucky in 2006 killed five. In all, 47 coal miners died that year. The Sago mine explosion grabbed national headlines in January 2006. The blast killed 12 and left one miner with serious injuries.