Vol. 71/No. 33      September 10, 2007

The miners welcomed the special supplement headed “Safety is a union question! No miner has to die!”

There have been three underground deaths at Daw Mill since June of last year.

In June 2006, Trevor Steeples, 46, died underground after being overcome by methane. Eight weeks later Paul Hunt, 45, was killed under a coal wagon.

A promised inquiry by the government-sponsored Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not yet made a public report. The company, UK Coal, commissioned an “independent” inquiry into safety practices following the two deaths last year, which concluded that the company was not at fault.

In January 2007 Anthony Garrigan, 42, was crushed by a collapsed tunnel wall which was being repaired because of safety fears. BBC news reported that coal boss Stuart Oliver dismissed any relationship between the 2006 deaths and that of Garrigan.

Garrigan had only been at the pit for one week. He, like many, mined as a contractor, moving from pit to pit on 12-hour shifts with long journeys back home for weekends. The company has also hired between 50 and 70 Polish miners. They are housed and bussed to the pit by an outside agency.

Workers explained that many miners took these contract jobs following the closure of 126 pits after the year-long miners strike in 1984-85. Today there are seven underground coal mines in the United Kingdom.
 
 
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‘Militant’ gets around in coalfields
Young Socialists get out truth in mining regions  
 
 
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