TRIANGLE, Va. — The United Mine Workers of America is preparing to visit multiple coal sites to bring awareness to mine safety following the ninth miner death this year.
Marius Shepherd, 33, died Monday following an accident at the Seneca Coal Resources Oak Grove mine in Hueytown, Alabama. According to reports, Shepherd jumped from a runaway underground locomotive prior to his death.
UMWA International president Cecil Roberts said it will require employers, government agencies and workers to prevent deaths from happening.
“This outreach is to bring awareness of these recent accidents and their causes, to ensure training is adequate at the mine, and to give and receive feedback as to how we can prevent any more of these accidents in the future,” he said in a statement.
Roberts also said the Mine Safety and Health Administration has a “compliance assistance” program to address mining disasters, which the union does not support.
“MSHA is giving the operators leeway to select who can participate in this program and who cannot,” he said. “To be effective, MSHA’s program must be training everyone receives.”
Roberts adds the administration did not reach out to the union in developing the program.
Eight miners died in 2016 following accidents.