V.W.H.Campbell, Post-Gazette Judy Shackelford, the sister of miner Terry Helms, braces against the cold as she walks away from the coal tipple and the main site of the mine where her brother worked and lost his life.

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mining is a dangerous business, as last week's disaster in West Virginia demonstrated, but the safest underground mines in the United States, the ones with the fewest accidents and injuries, share a similar quality -- they look like a clean, orderly home where everything is in its place.

		Related coverage Workplace safety not always easy to measure Online graphic: See a chart that compares the safety records of mines operated by Clean Energy and Sago.

"Good mines are characterized by good housekeeping," said Dr. Larry Grayson, former superintendent of a 500-person mine in Nemacolin, Pa., Fayette County.

Garbage is picked up promptly, cinder blocks and timber are put away, spare pieces of coal have been cleared away and the walls are covered with a white powder -- ground limestone -- that smothers any build-up of combustible black coal dust and reduces the likelihood of an explosion.

Walking through a clean, safe mine "is almost like walking through fresh snow," said Dr. Grayson, who chairs the mining department at the University of Missouri-Rolla. "You wouldn't even know you are in a coal mine."

A preponderance of limestone powder also is a No. 1 safety indicator for ex-mining engineer Chris Bise, who still recalls a trip he took through a mine 25 years ago that "was not very white."

"I remember thinking to myself, 'This isn't good housekeeping; I think they are going to have trouble.' " said Dr. Bise, who now chairs the mining engineering department at Penn State University. "Lo and behold, a year later there was an explosion."

The difference between a dangerous mine and a safe one is of paramount concern in the wake of the Sago Mine explosion last week that trapped 13 miners underground and killed all but one. It is not known what caused the blast, nor is there a clear picture of what safety procedures were like inside the mine before the explosion.

But it is clear that Sago has been far from the model underground U.S. coal mine when it comes to keeping workers safe.

Miners who have worked there have expressed a wide range of opinions. Two reached Friday said Sago workers were pretty good about keeping the place clean and spreading the white powder along the walls and the floor.

"It was always snow white," said one of them, who visited briefly.

Both said the neighboring Spruce Fork Mine, owned by the same Sago operator, was much more dangerous, citing a weak roof that collapsed frequently. There were 45 roof falls at Spruce Fork in 2004 and 24 through August of 2005 -- compared with eight roof falls at Sago in 2004 and 19 for the full year of 2005. Spruce Fork is now closed.

"Conditions were rough in there," said a miner who worked at Spruce Fork until last year.

The ex-Spruce Fork miner said he witnessed shortcuts by a fire boss, who is responsible for inspecting dangers before a crew enters. The boss is supposed to check power sources and test for methane levels, putting his initials on each station as he goes along.

"I've seen him walk up and write his name on it and go on" without a thorough check, one miner said. Other miners at Spruce Fork saw the same thing, he said, but did not want to say anything because they were "afraid of losing their jobs" -- the same reason these two minors cited for not wanting their names published.

"It's piddly stuff but really it could result in something big," he said.

"When you do coal mining, you've got to do it by the book. It's too dangerous."

Safety at Sago

It is difficult to know if similar shortcuts were taken at Sago, but it does have a troubled safety record, experts said.

First, the injury rate at Sago in 2005 was more than two and half times the industry average for similar mines. Second, the number of violations cited by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration increased threefold in 2005, to 208 -- a figure that a MSHA spokeswoman admitted was "high," while not "extraordinary," compared to similar operations.

Safety appeared to worsen in the second half of 2005, with inspectors raising serious concerns and claiming negligence 13 times, four times citing the accumulation of combustible materials, such as coal dust.

Based on the records, "I would say it was an unsafe mine to work in," said Dennis O'Dell, administrator of occupational health and safety for the United Mine Workers of America.

The safety record apparently improved in the fourth quarter, after International Coal Group took control in November. ICG was the winner of the industry's most prestigious safety award in 2004 for a mine it purchased that year in Knott County, Ky. ICG reported no injuries and only 35 citations from the federal mine safety agency. In 2005, it reported one injury and 26 citations -- compared with 14 injuries and 208 citations at the Sago mine.

In the mining industry, even the best mines and best operators have problems.

Bethel Park-based Consol Energy, which has a safety record better than the industry average, still found itself battling a fire in 2003 at its Loveridge mine near Fairmont, W.Va., that apparently started with a chain of supply cars that were filled with trash. The exact cause was never determined. Consol laid off 297 people and experienced another fine at the same mine in 2005.

"You won't find a mine without violations," said Tom Hoffman, a Consol spokesman. Some mines are the size of the city of Pittsburgh, underground, making it hard to keep everything under control.

The nation's largest coal mines, employing at least 250, are best able to balance production and safety, said Dr. Grayson, who has studied the correlation. The smallest mines, with 50 or fewer employees, find it more difficult to keep up with the demand for coal while exercising extreme caution. Sago had 65 employees in 2004, according to Dr. Grayson, which grew to 145 in 2005.

Sago is a non-union mine, but there appears to be no correlation between mine safety and the presence of union miners, said Dr. Grayson and Dr. Wise.

But the UMW's Mr. O'Dell, argues that union representation is often the only protection against a dangerous working environment. "At non-union operations, workers tend to become intimidated because safety is not No. 1," Mr. O'Dell said. "Production is. Working miners do not have a voice; they are intimidated by bottom line supervisors who are after nothing but production," forcing workers to take shortcuts.

Sweating the details

All mining experts agree that creating a culture of safety is critical. Good mines are detail-oriented, slavish about cleanup and offer incentives. (Consol hands out pickup trucks and throws parties when mines score well on safety.) And it starts with the CEO.

"You can see it, you can feel it, you can breathe it from the top down," said David Sarkus, a Monongahela safety consultant.

Bad mines are sloppy and leave things unattended. Dangerous work practices and shortcuts are silently encouraged so that production can proceed unabated.

As a supervisor, "if you walk past it, then you have sanctioned it," Dr. Grayson said.

Here is what Dr. Grayson and other experts look for when walking a mine:

Too much dust -- a sign of not enough ventilation.

Sloppy employees who skip the little things, like wearing safety goggles.

Clearly marked escape routes and stopping points. Dr. Grayson used to mark escape routes with green reflectors and stopping points with phosphorus paint.

Fire extinguishers that are checked and clearly initialed by the last inspector.

No pieces of coal lying on floors or conveyor belts.

No clutter. No garbage, no cables or supplies left behind. "Everything is in its place," Dr. Grayson said.

And then there are walls and floors that are "nice and white," Dr. Grayson said. "That is the No. 1 sign when I walk my mine. It means I have taken care of any accumulation of coal dust that can be dangerous."

Of course, a pristine appearance doesn't guarantee a safe mine. One miner who has seen Sago and Spruce Fork said inspectors sometimes paid so much attention to the whiteness of the walls and floor that they missed smaller stuff.