n the first month of 2006, 16 West Virginia coal miners died in four separate accidents. Those dramatic and tragic events cast a national spotlight on the state’s coal industry and on the topic of coal mine safety.
This is not a new concern at West Virginia University, where mining and other faculty have, over the years, conducted research in mine safety-related issues, educated mining engineers, developed training programs for rank-and-file miners, and helped shape policies to improve safety and health for coal miners.
WVU’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources is home to two departments—Mining Engineering and Mining Extension—that are involved with mine safety. The College also recently sent a faculty member, Jim Dean, to Charleston to play a key role in implementing mine safety programs for the state. Others are working to find funding for more research into mine safety issues and to apply the expertise at the University to make disasters like Sago even more of a rarity than they have already become.
Mining Engineering
The WVU Department of Mining Engineering has been educating engineers and managers for the mining industry and conducting mining-related research for more than 130 years. According to Syd Peng, department chair, the twentieth century saw remarkable improvements in safety and health for U.S. miners, and a major decline in injuries and fatalities.
“Many people still think of coal mining as a very dangerous occupation,” he said, “and, certainly, as Sago reminded us, accidents do happen. But, it is important to understand that coal mining in this country has become a highly regulated, high-tech industry that, in fact, has a significantly lower rate of injuries and illness than many other industries.”
Safety should never be taken for granted, though, and a large percentage of the research conducted by department faculty is related to safety. For example, Peng and other faculty recently developed a Mine Roof Geology Information System for detecting fractures and estimating the rock strength for an underground mine roof. The system provides miners with real-time information and engineers with a detailed roof map depicting geological changes every five feet.
Other safety-related research undertaken recently by mining engineering faculty include the development of an integrated stability mapping system aimed at reducing injuries associated with ground falls and multiseam mining situations; a dynamic ventilation model for analyzing the movement of methane and other contaminants within a mine; the cost of coal-mine catastrophes; and an evaluation of various methods of extinguishing mine fires, among others.
The department also emphasizes safety in its curriculum. With four full-time faculty members, approximately 50 undergraduates, and 20 graduate students, the program immerses students in science and math fundamentals, along with in-depth study relating to the design and safe operation of mines. Safety is integrated into every aspect of the curriculum.
But, the best safety training may be the experience that students gain during paid summer internships in coal mines, an opportunity offered to every mining engineering major and taken advantage of by nearly all of them. “Even though our students are heading for careers in engineering and management, getting hands-on experience working in a coal mine is very educational for them,” said Peng.
Patrick Pelley, a mining engineering major, would agree. Last summer, following his freshman year at WVU, Pelley worked at CONSOL’s Enlow Fork Mine. “I was a little nervous at first,” he admits, “but everyone who worked there was friendly and helpful. I learned so much, and decided that this is a career that I will enjoy.”
In today’s booming coal market, mining engineers are in high demand. Most students in the department receive industry-sponsored scholarships, graduate with multiple job offers, and move quickly into management and engineering positions in the mining industry.
Mining Extension
Training isn’t focused only on mining engineers and managers. WVU also provides training to rank-and-file coal miners, and has been doing so for a very long time.
Since 1913, the WVU Department of Mining Extension has been working with the state’s coal industry to provide training programs for coal mining jobs. With the recent growth in the coal market and the retirement of the baby boomers, the current need is very real.
“The coal industry in this state is booming,” said Joe Spiker, interim director of mining extension, “but, with the retirement of the baby boomers, there aren’t enough trained miners to fill the jobs. Our mission is to provide people who want to work in the mines with the training that they need to get a job and to work safely from the outset.”
The department trains more than 3,000 new and experienced coal miners each year, offering new miner classes in underground and surface mining in addition to specialized courses such as foreman/fireboss certification, EMT for mining certification, emergency preparedness, electrical apprentice, and others.
For many years, these classes were offered statewide in a variety of locations. The program got a permanent home last year when CONSOL Energy donated its Dolls Run facility, just west of Morgantown, to WVU as a permanent headquarters for the miner training program. The first class at the new facility concluded in February, and every student who completed the eight-week session passed the certification exams at the end of the course.
“Our instructors are all experienced in coal mining, and experienced in teaching,” said Spiker. “A large majority of what we cover relates to the various types of accidents that can occur, how to avoid them, and what to do if they occur. We cover all of these things in a great deal of detail. We want these miners to be as prepared as they possibly can when they go to work.”
With a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, the department is hiring additional instructors and purchasing simulators that will enable participants to gain hands-on experience with various types of mining equipment before they enter a mine. The WVU facility at Dolls Run is the northern headquarters for the training program, and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College is coordinating the program in the southern part of the state. The West Virginia Coal Association is an important partner as well.
Faculty Member Heads State Mine Safety Agency
Joe Spiker is the interim director of mining extension because he is filling in for Jim Dean, who led the department since 1994, but was recently asked by West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin to become the acting director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training—the state agency charged with enforcing state laws relating to mine safety and health.
Dean, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mining and a high degree of expertise in mine safety and management, is now playing a key role in the state’s response to the recent mine tragedies. His responsibilities include the implementation of new state mine safety legislation that was passed after the Sago disaster. The new legislation requires additional oxygen supplies, improved underground communications systems, and revised emergency reporting requirements for coal mine accidents.
“My goals are to provide leadership to the Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training during this difficult time,” said Dean, “to focus on our agency’s mission of improving mine safety through inspection and training, and to improve West Virginia’s capabilities in mine rescue response.”
Support for New Mine Safety Initiatives
Thirty years ago, the last time the coal market was booming, WVU was the center of a great deal more research related to coal mine safety than it is today, said Roy Nutter, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering. Nutter and many others conducted research in underground mine communications and monitoring, ventilation systems, robots, and many other mine safety-related subjects.
“When the coal market became sluggish in the eighties, the funding for research also dried up,” said Nutter. “With the market in better shape now, and the current interest in mine safety, we hope that there will be more funding for research in these areas. Our faculty offers a great deal of expertise, and we’re eager to help.”
Dick Bajura, director of WVU’s National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE), seconds that opinion.
“There is little doubt,” said Bajura, “that the federal government needs to pay more attention to health and safety issues relating to coal mining, that more funding is needed for research in these areas. Senator Byrd is pushing for this to happen, and I am confident that it will.”
The NRCCE is also working on mine safety initiatives at the state level. The agency recently hosted a West Virginia Mine Safety Roundtable that brought together representatives from government, industry, labor, academia, and other groups to discuss challenges and opportunities presented by West Virginia’s new mine safety legislation.
“We hope to continue to support the efforts of all of those who are working for the improvement of our state’s coal mining industry,” said Bajura. 