Another Massey Miner Dies in West Virginia
About 15 hours after Massey CEO Don Blankenship told Congress that worker safety is the company’s top priority, another Massey miner died in West Virginia, The Associated Press reports.
“„State of West Virginia spokesman Hoy Murphy says 55-year-old James Erwin of Delbarton died about 6 a.m. Friday.
“„Murphy says Erwin was pinned between a piece of heavy equipment and the wall at Massey’s Ruby Energy mine in Mingo County on May 10.
The Ruby Energy Mine — one of the 57 operations highlighted last month by the Mine Safety and Health Administration for having a troubling safety record — has racked up 82 safety citations since April 5, when 29 miners were killed (and another seriously injured) at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in nearby Raleigh County. Twenty-seven of those violations were deemed “significant and substantial,” indicating that they are “reasonably likely to result in a reasonably serious injury or illness.”
