Work Injury Lawyer: Is Don Blankenship Cavalier About Mine Safety?

What does it say about a company when the CEO is thought by many to be cavalier about safety issues at the company?  For those personally affected by the tragic deaths of 29 miners at the Massey mines, Don Blankenship’s apparent ignorance about the mine safety problems at the Upper Big Branch Mine are either indicative of major denial or show a cavalier negligence.

Here just a few of the issues at the Massey mines:

• 52 deaths in the last 10 years.
• Dozens of violations at the Upper Big Branch mine for pre-shift safety examinations that were either not done at all or not documented.
• Dozens of miners ordered out of Upper Big Branch by an inspector last September because they had not been properly trained.
• Several times inspectors found ventilation curtains, intended to help encourage the flow of oxygen and protect workers from excess methane gas, improperly hung or lying on the mine floor.
• 44 citations in the last 2 years for major methane violations.
• Three months ago an inspector found that a supervisor had been aware for three weeks that ventilation air was flowing the wrong way, which would prevent escape in the case of emergency.
• About a dozen citations in the last 2 years for failure to maintain or properly operate doors that direct air flow in the mine.

That is just a partial list of issues at Massey and the Upper Big Branch mine.  What does Don Blankenship have to say about all this?  "At the Massey level, we're doing everything we can to make all of our mines as safe as we can."

Sounds like somebody is either in serious denial, or is too focused on profit to care about the lives and well-being of his miners.  Whether Blankenship is ignorant or willfully negligent, the result is the same: 29 miners are dead.  How many more have to be injured or killed for Massey to take safety seriously?