Statement of-Continued Thurmond, Walter-Continued Progress in West Virginia Mine Inspection Department_ Memorandum and statistical information from A. D. Sisk, chief, Letter addressed to A. D. Sisk, chief, Department of Mines, Anthracite and bituminous coal mines, statistical information. Excerpt of letter from President of the United States to Speaker of Page 157 158 159 161 163 164 164 167 Extract from Review of Safety in Coal Mining in 1945- 168 168 176 Safety in Coal Mining, editorial from Kanawha (W. Va.) Com- 177 merce_ Vursell, Hon. Charles W., a Representative in Congress from the State 487 COAL MINE SAFETY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1952 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAL MINE SAFETY, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a. m., in the caucus room, Old House Office Building, the Honorable Augustine B. Kelley (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Kelley, Lucas, Bailey, Perkins, Tackett, 'McConnell, Morton, Potter, and Vail. Also present: Fred G. Hussey, chief clerk; John S. Forsythe, general counsel; David N. Henderson, assistant general counsel; and John O. Graham, minority clerk. Mr. KELLEY. The subcommittee will please come to order. The hearing this morning is on H. R. 268, introduced by Mr. Price, entitled "A bill amending Public Law 49, Seventy-seventh Congress, providing for the welfare of coal miners, and for other purposes," which will be placed in the record at this point. (H. R. 268 follows:) [H. R. 268, 82d Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL Amending Public Law 49, Seventy-seventh Congress, providing for the welfare of coal miners, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Public Law 49, Seventy-seventh Congress, be amended as follows: After section 5, add the following: "Any owner, lessee, agent, manager, superintendent, or other person who willfully fails or refuses to furnish complete and correct information pursuant to this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding sixty days, or both." Insert between sections 6 and 7 thereof section 6A and section 6B, reading as follows: "SEC. 6A. The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the United States Bureau of Mines, is hereby authorized and directed to promulgate such regulations as he may deem necessary to establish safety standards and requirements to be observed in the operation of coal mines, the products of which regularly enter commerce or the operations of which substantially affect commerce. Such regulations shall be designed to eliminate or ameliorate so far as practicable unsafe or unhealthful conditions or practices in such mines which result in explosions, cave-ins, inundations, suffocation of miners, accidents, and occupational and other diseases. "Such regulations shall prescribe "(1) such minimum standards governing timbering, support, and prevention of collapse or squeeze in coal mines as may be required in the interest of safety; "(2) such minimum standards governing the construction and use of machinery and equipment and the composition and use of explosives in coal mines as may be required in the interest of safety; 1 "(3) such minimum standards governing operations, equipment, methods of mining, ventilation, prevention of gas or dust explosion, and transportation in coal mines as may be required in the interest of health and safety; "(4) minimum standards, in the interest of health and safety, governing inspections of and repairs to coal mines, coal-mining equipment and machinery, and inspections of coal-mining methods and procedures; and (5) other standards to effectuate the purposes of subsections (1), (2), (3), and (4) of section 6A of this Act. "The Secretary of the Interior shall revise these regulations from time to time as the need therefor arises. “Not less than thirty days before promulgation under this section of any regulation or amendment thereto, the text or substance of the proposed regulation or amendment shall be published in the Federal Register in such manner as to indicate that it is proposed to promulgate such regulation or amendment. Not more than fifteen days after such publication, interested persons shall be afforded an opportunity to submit, orally or in writing, data, views, and arguments with respect to such proposed regulations or amendment. "The Secretary shall give consideration to all relevant matter so presented, and not more than sixty days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, as aforesaid, of the proposed regulation or amendment, the Secretary shall promulgate the regulation or amendment as proposed in said publication, or shall modify such proposed regulation or amendment as he deems necessary and appropriate after due consideration of all relevant matters so presented, and shall pro¬ mulgate such proposed regulation or amendment as thus modified, or shall withdraw such proposed regulation or amendment. "SEC. 6B. Whenever a coal-mine inspector, as provided in this Act, finds that any person in violation the requirements of a regulation or regulations as herein provided is creating conditions that constitute an imminent danger to the life or safety of the employees in the mine, he shall by oral or written order require the operator or his representative to withdraw all employees, other than those necessary to correct such unsafe conditions, from the unsafe area until such danger is eliminated. Any operator or operator representative who has notice of such an order of withdrawal, whether oral or written, shall immediately comply with it. The posting of a copy of the order at or near the mine entrance and the delivery to the operator or operator representative of a copy thereof at a mine office on the premises while the mine is in operation shall constitute notice of the order. After such withdrawal is ordered, the operator or his representative shall not permit any employees other than those necessary to correct such unsafe conditions to remain in or to enter upon the area specified in the order until the unsafe conditions specified in the order have been corrected. A certificate of correction in writing by a coal-mine inspector of the Bureau of Mines or by the Director of the Bureau of Mines or his authorized representative shall be evidence of the correction of the unsafe condition or conditions. "The operator of the mine to whom such order is directed may appeal to the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines to have the mine reexamined. The Director shall thereafter proceed immediately to assign a different coal-mine inspector or inspectors to reexamine and inspect the mine immediately. If, upon such reexamination, the Director is satisfied that the order is erroneous, he may accordingly revise it or set it aside. _Pending such appeal, or any appeal authorized by the Federal Administrative Procedure Act, the order to withdraw employees from the area of danger shall remain effective. "Any operator or his representative who wilifully fails to obey any such order of withdrawal, or who willfully permits employees other than those necessary to correct such unsafe conditions to remain in or to enter upon the area specified in the order, prior to the correction thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. "State laws or contracts pertaining to mine safety shall not be deemed to be superseded, save only to the extent to which they are in conflict with the provisions of this Act or the regulations or orders issued pursuant to it." Amend the title so as to read: "A bill to amend Public Law 49, Seventyseventh Congress, for the purpose of preventing loss of life, impairment of health, and endangerment to the safety of coal-mine employees.' Mr. KELLEY. The first witness is the Honorable Melvin Price, from Illinois. STATEMENT OF HON. MELVIN PRICE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Mr. PRICE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee; it is hardly necessary for me to tell the members of this special subcommittee that I am not an expert on mine safety. I do know, however, that there hasn't been much safety in our mines and that the record of fatalities and injuries among our Nation's coal miners through the years has been a national disgrace. The record of more than 100,000 miners killed in this country since 1883; 1,305,925 injured from 1930 through 1951; and 10,400 coal miners killed since 1941 is a very shameful one. I think something should be done about providing far better protection for our miners. I cannot believe that far safer conditions of work cannot be maintained in mines than now exist. The amazing thing to me is that we still have men willing to go into the mines under conditions now too prevalent. I shall address myself in a general way in support of H. R. 268, a bill which I introduced in the House of Representatives on January 3, 1951, proposing enforcement provisions for the existing Federal minesafety law, Public Law 49 of the Seventy-seventh Congress, because I believe that by putting teeth into the Federal law we can improve greatly safety conditions in our mines. I am interested in mine safety, as every Member of Congress should be. The mining of coal is important to the economy of our country, It is the duty of Congress to provide adequate safeguard for the lives of those courageous men who dig the Nation's coal. No segment in America's industrial life has or does contribute more to our industrial progress. And no group of American workers have or do face the hazards in their occupation as the coal miners do. I could introduce into the record of this hearing hundreds of editorials from leading daily newspapers in every section of the country and of every political belief and faith in support of enforcement power for Federal authorities. The consensus of these editorial opinions is that legislation such as I have proposed in H. R. 268 is made imperative by the failure or inability of the States to deal with the problem adequately. Let me quote from an editorial in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star of January 26, 1952: But The traditional view has been that mine safety is a State responsibility. the records say that the States have failed to provide for the protection of mine workers as they could and should have done. Ordinarily we are opposed to increasing the authority of the Federal Government. But this is one case where it seems to be necessary. As the toll of deaths in our mines mount month by month the need for immediate action on the part of Congress becomes more and more apparent. Certainly this legislation deserves the right-of-way. That mine safety is of major concern of the American public is evidenced by the call for congressional action from the Nation's press. In June and July of 1949, extensive hearings were held by a subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, and several members of the present subcommittee sat as members of that 1949 group. |