Five families have now filed wrongful death lawsuits against Jim Walter for failing to create and maintain a safe working environment.

On September 23 a rockfall in Jim Walter Blue Creek No. 5 mine struck a battery charger underground. Sparks from the im pact ignited a pocket of explosive methane gas.

Of the 28 workers and four bosses in the mine at the time, three miners were killed immediately by the blast and a fourth died September 24 after being removed from the mine and rushed to the hospital. The other miners killed were caught in a second explosion while trying to rescue their co-workers.

The families of Gaston Earl Adams, Jr.; Nelson Banks; Charles "Eddie" Smith; Dennis Mobley; and Clarence "Bit" Boyd have all filed wrongful death suits against Jim Walter and in some cases Black Warrior Methane Corp. for failing to create a safe working environment.  
 
High methane levels
Miners explained to the Militant that the company was warned several times about high methane levels and ventilation problems in the mine.

In the weeks leading up to the fatal blasts at Blue Creek No. 5 mine the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued at least 10 safety citations labeled "serious," including five related to roof control. The mine owners received 52 other citations for unsafe conditions during the same period, including at least 18 for accumulation of combustible material.

Between 1995 and 2001 MSHA issued 2,987 safety violations and action orders against the company, and fines totally $594,276.

Despite this seemingly high number of citations, some miners say that at times major safety violations would go unchallenged by MSHA officials who give special "leniency" to the company.

Some workers say MSHA inspectors get too "cozy" with the bosses and often do not follow up to check on company compliance with the citations.

One Birmingham News article titled "Mine violation records lacking" appears to give truth to those statements. "A federal safety inspector repeatedly cited Blue Creek No. 5 mine in the month before the two deadly explosions," the article reads, "but there is no record the coal mine was reinspected to ensure its recommendations were implemented." MSHA officials are supposed to check on violations they write up and mark them if they have been corrected.

"There is no indication that these violations were not taken care of," MSHA spokesman Rodney Brown told the Birmingham News. "If the inspector is in one area one day, that doesn't mean he'll be back to that same area the next day. Some of the violations cited were to be corrected in as little as four hours."

The United Mine Workers of America says it plans to investigate MSHA's effectiveness at Jim Walter.

Five more miners were killed since the Jim Walter explosion. In Kentucky one miner died October 3 at Lodestar Energy Inc.; three workers from West Virginia were killed at Fork Creek Mining, Cantenary Coal Co., and Roblee Coal; and a fifth worker was killed at AEP Coal LLC in Ohio.

On October 17 Marvin Brown, a contract worker for Cowin and Co., was critically injured by a rockfall while sinking an air shaft at Jim Walter Resources No. 7 mine.  
 
 
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