Already in severe economic distress from tumbling demand and plunging energy prices, the nation’s beleaguered coal industry started the new year on a tragic note: Three miners died on the job in the first three weeks of 2016.
While it would be a mistake to draw too much from the spate of fatalities, the man in charge of keeping miners safe found the death toll troubling, particularly given the fatal accidents in January follow the two back-to-back safest years in U.S. mining history.
“When those three fatalities happened, we weren’t waiting to let folks know that this needs to get turned around here,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph Main told CBS MoneyWatch. “Understanding the economic difficulties here, we cannot lose ground, which can happen if they start pulling back on investments in mine safety in these tough times.”