In the days and weeks after the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia, journalists used their computer-assisted reporting skills to dig more deeply into stories about mine safety. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) offers more than 20 years of accident, inspection, and violation data on its Web site that journalists can use to add context to a quick-hit story or as the basis of an investigation.
When they set out to study the violations at Colorado's mines, Katy Human and Jeff Roberts of The Denver Post found they had to begin with a more basic question: "Our first question was, do we have underground coal mines in Colorado?" Human says. To get an overview of mining in Colorado, Human and Roberts turned to the data retrieval system provided by MSHA, available at www.msha.gov/drs/drshome.htm.
an employment table with details about the number of employees, the amount of production, mine type and other information, and an incident table with details about each injury and illness, including a narrative of the incident and information about the experience, shift and job title of the person involved. Data is available for 1983-2004. By joining the employment table with the injury table, it is possible to calculate an injury rate for each mine, as well as a national average.
Once you have identified mines of interest, however, you will need to turn to the data retrieval system to view citations and fines. Much of the attention following the Sago Mine focused on the time it took the first rescue team to begin work. Ward reported in The Gazette that a rescue team did not enter the mine until almost 12 hours after the explosion. To add depth to the story, Ward used a nationwide list of mine rescue teams available from MSHA from the mine rescue link off the home page, or www.msha.gov/MineRescue/MAP/ASP/minerescuehome.asp.
The data comes as an Excel file with a row for each rescue team nationwide. The columns include number of members, the type of activities, the number of monthly training hours, and whether the team participates in mine rescue competitions. By combining the rescue team data with other MSHA data, Ward was able to report there was only one rescue team for every four mines nationwide. Human and Roberts caution journalists to be careful to note what dates are included in their analysis.
Since MSHA updates its data retrieval system frequently, summary information such as violations and accident totals can change throughout the reporting of the story. To get acquainted with the terminology and regulations associated with the mining industry, Ward recommends several sources, including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection mining glossary (www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/dms/website training/glossary.html) and the U.S.
Code of Federal Regulations, which is available from the MSHA home page. Ward also recommends obtaining underground mining textbooks through interlibrary loan at your local library. In addition to the textbooks, some colleges offer mining programs. The faculty there can provide another resource. Tomich drew on the experience of a local mining professor to help him explain the differences between the amounts mines were fined.
Contact Brian Hamman by e-mail at brianh@ire.org.