OCR Text |
Show z . SAFETY IN MINING When a score of miners lost their lives a few weeks ago in a disastrous coal mine explosion, the public was reminded again of the potential hazards of mining. Many undoubtedly assume that eliminating those hazards is exclusively the job of mine management. man-agement. This is not true, although it is true that management bears a heavy responsibility. re-sponsibility. Safety in mining in this country has progressed steadily. Far-sighted manage- ment has combined mechanical devices and engineering resourcefulness in an effort to ward off the horror of death and injury underground. But mine operators cannot set up safety records by themselves. The miners must help. In spite of the resourcefulness of science and invention, mining will always be hazardous when the men underground fail to abide by safety rules. They must do their part in maintaining equipment and in using it properly. Those miners, like operators oper-ators who through carelessness or neglect subject hundreds of men to the danger of accidents, deserve little sympathy. However, How-ever, when an accident does occur, the tendency ten-dency is to blame management exclusively. It is well to remember that mine "crack-ups" "crack-ups" can just as easily be the fault of the men working underground as the mine owners. |