JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – US coal-miner Massey Energy on Thursday criticised the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and a union leader for taking a tour through its Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine, in West Virginia, saying this could compromise evidence of its probe into the April 5 accident.

Members of the MSHA and the president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union, Cecil Roberts, on Thursday went into the UBB mine, where 29 workers were killed in an explosion in April.

“It is unheard of for MSHA to parade non-technical political operatives through critical areas of the UBB mine without first having key pieces of evidence in these sections properly secured. Individuals are literally stepping on potential evidence before it has been photographed, mapped or preserved. This hampers the ability of investigators to identify key evidentiary facts that can point to the exact cause of the UBB accident,” said Massey Energy general counsel Shane Harvey.

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship added that by conducting a tour of the accident scene before proper investigatory protocols had been completed, the MSHA continued to undermine the integrity of data collected from the mine.

Last month, the coal miner accused the MSHA of hindering its investigation by not allowing the company’s investigators to use certain investigative tools, such as cameras, electronic mapping and coal dust analysis as part of their inquiry into the accident.

However, the UMWA said that the MSHA had been invited by Blankenship to go underground at the mine. The MSHA had then invited the leaders of other organisations involved in the investigation to go along.

“Everyone involved with this investigation needs to be about the business of finding out what happened at this mine so that we can keep it from happening again anywhere else. Unfortunately, that’s not what Massey appears to be interested in doing,” UMWA occupational health and safety administrator Dennis O’Dell, who also visited the mine, said.

He added that the coal miner was instead “playing the public relations equivalent of a con game, directing public and media attention away from the company’s long record of safety and environmental problems”.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.