The CEO of CONSOL Energy says one of his main concerns is safety. That’s what Nick Deluliis focused on during his speech Thursday at the West Virginia Mining Symposium in Charleston.
Deluliis says everyone knows how important safety is, putting it into practice is another matter altogether.
“We’re never going to achieve the potential that’s out there with the new market that’s developing worldwide unless we address the safety and, more specifically, severity challenges that are facing our industry,” Deluliis said.
While new technology is being developed everyday to make mines safer, Deluliis says unless everyone in the company, top down, works together, safety issues will continue to be a problem.
“The good news is we are all motivated to make sure that these incidents don’t occur. So the motivation is there,” Deluliis said. “We just need to pull together as a team, not just within the company but with other stakeholders, regulators, policy makers, etc… that play a role working with us to make sure that we get done what needs to be done safely.”
Deluliis says one major issue they’re facing is convincing workers to report problems within the mine. The CEO says it’s never easy to point out flaws that could be potentially dangerous.
“You’ve got a lot of new, less experienced people coming into the industry who are working alongside some very experienced individuals,” explained Deluliis. “Now you’ve got a compounded effect where not only is there that resistance at times to speak up but now you’re speaking up to someone that’s got literally 30-more years experience doing what they’re doing than you.”
He says it takes a strong conviction and a dedication to safety to step up.
Deluliis doesn’t believes there is a safety problem within the industry, but rather a severity challenge. He says today there are fewer accidents but they tend to be more serious when they do happen. That’s something all miners, inspectors and coal company executives need to keep in mind.