EKB News

WEST VIRGINIA....
Massey Energy revealed Thursday that its corporatewide accident rates for each of the last three years were up to 40 percent worse than the company had originally reported. Massey disclosed what it called mistakes involving electric equipment and underground mine ventilation systems that occurred at its Upper Big Branch Mine prior to the April 5th explosion. Massey says none of the mistakes contributed in any way to the accident but were being disclosed in the interests of transparency and accountability. Massey says it wrongly did not remove rail tracks from part of the mine's longwall area, leaving a potential pathway for an electrical current in place. Massey says workers and federal inspectors moved some "non-permissible" equipment, meaning gear that was not certified as not producing sparks that could ignite an explosion, on that track. In some places underground, air-lock doors were used instead of more permanent ventilation structures called overcasts. Air-lock doors, if left open, can cause potentially dangerous changes in underground mine airflow. Massey said MSHA approved the doors, but that their use violated the company's own "best practices."