Mine Disasters
Mining disaster in the past have been referred to mining accidents claiming five or more
lives. Mine disasters once were really common. In the single year of 1907 there were 18 coal
mine disasters.. Among the disasters in 1907 was history's worst the Monongah coal mine
explosion, which claimed 362 lives and impelled Congress to create the Bureau of Mines. I will
discuss this disaster more later in this paper.
Mine accidents have declined dramatically in number and severity through years of
research, technology, and preventive programs. Today mine accidents resulting in five or more
deaths are no longer common. However preventing recurrence of disasters like those of the past
remains a top priority requiring constant attention by management, labor, and government.
Thus, it happened in 1907 when the Fairmont Coal Company's mine at Monongah, West Virginia
exploded killing 362 men and boys. Congress reacted to the disaster at Monongah by passing and
toughening mining laws.Through disasters such as this one and many others it has forced laws
and regulations, technology,and training which has brought us into mining as we know it.
In 1910, following a decade in which the number of coal mine fatalities exceeded 2,000 annually,
Congress established the Bureau of Mines as a new agency in the Department of the Interior. The
Bureau was charged with the responsibility to conduct research and to reduce accidents in the
coal mining industry. In 1968 less than five miles from Monongah another explosion had
happened and the fire which resulted after killed 78 men at the Consol No 9 mines at
Farmington, West Virginia.
The Farmington explosion resulted in the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of
1969 a far reaching document that promised a new day for the men in an industry that had
claimed more than 100,000 lives since 1900. Even before the Farmington mine had exploded in
1968, there
lives. Mine disasters once were really common. In the single year of 1907 there were 18 coal
mine disasters.. Among the disasters in 1907 was history's worst the Monongah coal mine
explosion, which claimed 362 lives and impelled Congress to create the Bureau of Mines. I will
discuss this disaster more later in this paper.
Mine accidents have declined dramatically in number and severity through years of
research, technology, and preventive programs. Today mine accidents resulting in five or more
deaths are no longer common. However preventing recurrence of disasters like those of the past
remains a top priority requiring constant attention by management, labor, and government.
Thus, it happened in 1907 when the Fairmont Coal Company's mine at Monongah, West Virginia
exploded killing 362 men and boys. Congress reacted to the disaster at Monongah by passing and
toughening mining laws.Through disasters such as this one and many others it has forced laws
and regulations, technology,and training which has brought us into mining as we know it.
In 1910, following a decade in which the number of coal mine fatalities exceeded 2,000 annually,
Congress established the Bureau of Mines as a new agency in the Department of the Interior. The
Bureau was charged with the responsibility to conduct research and to reduce accidents in the
coal mining industry. In 1968 less than five miles from Monongah another explosion had
happened and the fire which resulted after killed 78 men at the Consol No 9 mines at
Farmington, West Virginia.
The Farmington explosion resulted in the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of
1969 a far reaching document that promised a new day for the men in an industry that had
claimed more than 100,000 lives since 1900. Even before the Farmington mine had exploded in
1968, there