No. 9
No. 9

Author: Bonnie Elaine Stewart

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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Ninety-nine men entered the cold, dark tunnels of the Consolidation Coal Company's No.9 Mine in Farmington, West Virginia, on November 20, 1968. Some were worried about the condition of the mine. It had too much coal dust, too much methane gas. They knew that either one could cause an explosion. What they did not know was that someone had intentionally disabled a safety alarm on one of the mine's ventilation fans. That was a death sentence for most of the crew. The fan failed that morning, but the alarm did not sound. The lack of fresh air allowed methane gas to build up in the tunnels. A few moments before 5:30 a.m., the No.9 blew up. Some men died where they stood. Others lived but suffocated in the toxic fumes that filled the mine. Only 21 men escaped from the mountain. No.9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster explains how such a thing could happen--how the coal company and federal and state officials failed to protect the 78 men who died in the mountain. Based on public records and interviews with those who worked in the mine, No.9 describes the conditions underground before and after the disaster and the legal struggles of the miners' widows to gain justice and transform coal mine safety legislation.

Regulating Danger
Regulating Danger

Author: James Whiteside

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780803247529

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From the 1880s to the 1980s more than eight thousand workers died in the coal mines of the Rocky Mountain states. Sometimes they died by the dozens in fiery explosions, but more often they died alone, crushed by collapsing roofs or runaway mine cars. Many old-timers in coal-mining communities and even some historians haveøblamed the high fatality rate on ruthless coal barons exploiting miners in the single-minded pursuit of profit. The coal industry preferred to blame careless miners. James Whiteside looks beyond those charges in seeking to explain why the western coal mines were (and, to some degree, still are) dangerous and why territorial, state, and federal laws failed for so long to make them safer. Regulating Danger is the first extended study of the coal-mining industry in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. It exceeds the scope of traditional labor history in focusing on working conditions and the problems of workers instead of unions and strikes. After examining the inherent physical dangers of the work, Whiteside shows how the interplay of economic, social, and technological forces created an envi-ronment of death in the western coal mines. He goes on to discuss evolving industrial and political attitudes toward issues of responsibility for mine safety and government regulation and the fundamental changes in the industry that brought about safer working conditions.

To Punish or Persuade
To Punish or Persuade

Author: John Braithwaite

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1985-06-30

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0791497372

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In To Punish or Persuade, John Braithwaite declares that coal mine disasters are usually the result of corporate crime. He surveys 39 coal mine disasters from around the world, including 19 in the United States since 1960, and concludes that mine fatalities are usually not caused by human error or the unstoppable forces of nature. He shows that a combination of punitive and educative measures taken against offenders can have substantial effects in reducing injuries to miners. Braithwaite not only develops a model for determining the optimal mix of punishment and persuasion to maximize mine safety, but provides regulatory agencies in general with a model for mixing the two strategies to ensure compliance with the law. To Punish or Persuade looks at coal mine safety in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, France, Belgium, and Japan. It examines closely the five American coal mining companies with the best safety performance in the industry: U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Consolidation Coal Company, Island Creek Coal Company, and Old Ben Coal Company. It also takes a look at the safety record of unionized versus non-unionized mines and how safety regulation enforcement impacts productivity.

Advanced Mine Ventilation
Advanced Mine Ventilation

Author: Pramod Thakur

Publisher: Woodhead Publishing

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0081004583

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Advanced Mine Ventilation presents the reader with a unique book providing the theory and applications for designing mine ventilation with computers, controlling respirable coal dust and diesel particulate matter, combustible gas control and, mine fire management. The book summarizes the latest knowledge created in the past 40 years in these areas. Authored by an expert in the field with 50 years' experience, the book is a great combination of theory and applications. The mine ventilation section provides computer programs (both FORTRAN and C++) to calculate not only air quantities and pressure losses but also the concentration of any pollutant in all junctions and branches of the mine network. Small particle mechanics and dust control is covered in the second section of the book. The third section on combustible gas control discusses all aspects of mine gases from origin to control. The last section on mine fire control discusses spontaneous combustion, frictional ignitions, mine explosions, and mine sealing and recovery. The book is not only a very good reference book but also an excellent textbook for two graduate level courses in Mining Engineering. - Provides the latest knowledge on the four related topics of mine environment control; that is, ventilation, dust, gas, and fire in a single volume - Computer simulation of mine ventilation in both FORTRAN and C++ - State-of-the-art respirable dust control - Mine degasification and methane production from a coal lease - Mine fire management