2008 Woodie Awards
Safety or politics: which would you choose?
Jonathan Pearson
Issue date: 1/17/06 Section: Forum
- Page 1 of 2 next >
"Politics, politics, politics." I think Mel Brooks summed it up perfectly in his 1981 movie, "History of the World, Part I."
You never realize how bad politics can get until it is too late. As a former political science major now switching gears to a music major, I can tell you my own shift was long overdue. However, before I left my former arena I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever leave the study of politics for good.
We deal with politics everywhere we turn, in situations caused, affected by or related to politics.
Recently the unfortunate tragedy and loss of 12 coal miners' lives shocked the nation.
We watched television coverage and witnessed family members and friends holding on to hope while they waited for their loved ones to be rescued. We saw their false joy, and we saw it so tragically ripped away.
Mining is a way of life for the people in West Virginia; it's practically the only way to make an affordable living, but does the realization of risk justify coal companies' faulty regulations and weak enforcement? And what makes this case so out of the ordinary? How does politics play into this?
Let me explain. For these coal-miners, the company had a policy to "fire any employee at any time." Many of the miners were extremely fearful of losing their jobs and most of them ignored the safety violations for the sake of staying employed.
Safety violations? Who said anything about safety violations?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, there were 28 coal miner deaths last year. This does not include other deaths not associated with coal mining, as well as over 104,552 since 1900 when records were first kept.
If these deaths are such a frequent occurrence, what has been done to reverse this?
Ben Hatfield, chief executive of International Coal Group Inc., said last Wednesday improvements had been made to the mine, albeit minimal improvements, but they were working on making the Sago mine safer for several weeks now.
You never realize how bad politics can get until it is too late. As a former political science major now switching gears to a music major, I can tell you my own shift was long overdue. However, before I left my former arena I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever leave the study of politics for good.
We deal with politics everywhere we turn, in situations caused, affected by or related to politics.
Recently the unfortunate tragedy and loss of 12 coal miners' lives shocked the nation.
We watched television coverage and witnessed family members and friends holding on to hope while they waited for their loved ones to be rescued. We saw their false joy, and we saw it so tragically ripped away.
Mining is a way of life for the people in West Virginia; it's practically the only way to make an affordable living, but does the realization of risk justify coal companies' faulty regulations and weak enforcement? And what makes this case so out of the ordinary? How does politics play into this?
Let me explain. For these coal-miners, the company had a policy to "fire any employee at any time." Many of the miners were extremely fearful of losing their jobs and most of them ignored the safety violations for the sake of staying employed.
Safety violations? Who said anything about safety violations?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, there were 28 coal miner deaths last year. This does not include other deaths not associated with coal mining, as well as over 104,552 since 1900 when records were first kept.
If these deaths are such a frequent occurrence, what has been done to reverse this?
Ben Hatfield, chief executive of International Coal Group Inc., said last Wednesday improvements had been made to the mine, albeit minimal improvements, but they were working on making the Sago mine safer for several weeks now.
