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In the year since 29 coal miners died in an explosion at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine, federal regulators have cracked down hard to improve mine safety.
But in spreading that message of enhanced enforcement, federal Mine Safety and Health Administration boss Joe Main acknowledges that the campaign still has a way to go before accomplishing its goal of zero fatalities in the industry.
"Mine safety takes a lot of work and you have to be able to spend time to make things work," Main said Thursday in a telephone interview from suburban Washington, D.C., pledging to see that effort through.
"I came here to do a job. Every day I get up, I do everything I can to make sure miners can go home safely at the end of the day."
Main ticked off a list of actions MSHA has undertaken since the deadly blast ripped Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine last April 5:
• The agency began a series of surprise inspections at mines deemed most at risk of having a major disaster.
These inspection "blitzes" included visits to several Utah mines. The Horizon mine outside Price was targeted on several occasions.
"We've given instruction to the [regional] districts to do a constant review of all mines, with the concept that you [inspectors] need to be out there at those mines that need more attention," Main said.
• MSHA increased its willingness to issue closure orders when "substantial and significant (S&S)" violations are detected at troubled mines. Those orders force operators to shut down immediately until the violation is resolved, rather than giving time to fix the problem.
"We're not afraid to use closure orders," he said. "We want mine owners to know that if MSHA inspectors can walk around and find things that need to be fixed, the price you pay will be steep. Or you can use your own people, as the [1977] Mine Act obligates you to do, and you can fix them yourself."
• The never-before-implemented policy of designating a mine as having a "pattern of violations," subject to harsher penalties, was streamlined.
"I don't think mines want to operate in a way that puts them there," Main said. "This [crackdown] encourages them to be on better behavior."
• MSHA also stepped up its education and training to enhance safety consciousness.
While pursuing this agenda, Main determined that Congress needed to change existing mine safety acts in several ways to prevent operators from getting around the laws.
Miners who see unsafe practices need more protection from retribution if they speak up. Greater penalties also must be imposed for warning underground miners that inspectors are coming.
"As we move forward, we'll be pushing for more reforms," Main said. "We need more legislation … [because] there's not enough respect for the law."
That's where the National Mining Association disagrees with Main's perspective.
"We've obviously seen more aggressive enforcement activity this past year, but whether this has been a rational response to actual safety risks is too early to say," said spokesman Luke Popovich.