washington were seven workers died. the disaster that killed six people at a connecticut natural gas power plant, and just last week, a blast on the louisiana or the rig off the gulf of mexico that likely killed seven workers. it's time to focus renewed attention on the safety of our fellow workers. this string of recent worker deaths and is a grim reminder that too many employers cut corners on safety. too many workers pay the price with their lives. as the son of a coal miner, i feel these losses very deeply and on a very personal level. my thoughts and prayers are with the families and coworkers of those killed. those injured or missing because of these awful tragedies. while there's very little comfort we can offer during this difficult time, we can promise that their loved ones will not have died in vain. we learn from these tragedies so

that no one has to go in work that they will not come home at the end of the shift. survey the history of the american workplace just when we focus our efforts, we can do great things to improve safety and health. since the passage of the coal mine health and safety act and the occupational safety and health act four decades ago, countless lives have been saved in a number of workplace accidents, dramatically reduce. we still have a long way to go. every year tens of thousands of american workers are killed or permanently disabled by workplace injuries, and occupational disease. 2008, the latest available data, 5214 workers were killed by dramatic injuries. 5214 workers were killed by dramatic injuries in 2000 a. and is made 50 to 60,000 died from occupational diseases. too many workers remain in harm's way.

and it's long past time to strengthen the critical laws that help keep americans safe on the job. one area in our health and safety laws that needs particular attention is enforcement. while the vast majority of employers are responsible and do all they can to protect their workers, there is unfortunately a population of employers that prioritize profits over safety. and knowingly and repeatedly violate the law. the deadly blast at the upper big branch coal mine earlier this month was a tragic example of the dangers of this approach. this is silly has a record of new is in serious safety violations including 515 violations last year alone. 515 last year alone. that's a 76% more than the national average. so far this year it has already came with 124 additional violations. even more troubling, 48, 48 of

these accrued citations were repeated quote significant and substantial violations of safety standards that the mine operator new or at least should have known present a serious threat to workers of safety. the problem of repeat offenders is certainly not limited to the world of money. labor and abuse of the law is, in in many of them at dangers industries. unfortunately, the penalties for breaking law are often so minimal that employers can dismiss them as just a minor cost of doing business. currently, serious violations where there is a substantial probability of death or serious physical harm are subject to a maximum civil penalty of $7000. going for comparison, that's $18,000 less than the maximum fine for a class on civil and environmental violation under

the clean air act. criminal penalties are also weak. if a worker dies because of the willful act, the willful act, but his or her employer, that employer faces a maximum conviction for a misdemeanor and up to six months in jail. in contrast, that same employer willfully violating the clean water act could be fined up to $250,000 spend up to 15 years in prison. in other words, this is my point, our laws do more to protect the environment than it does our workers. in addition to putting real teeth in her safety health laws were to make sure federal agencies have the enforcement tools they need to identify mines and online workplaces with worst safety records, and holds these repeat offenders accountable. we have provisions in our laws are supposed to target repeat

offenders, but they are rendered ineffective. either through mistaken interpretation or undermined, undermined by employers who will go to great lengths to gain the system. there's no question that a mind like the upper big branch been receiving special scrutiny under the pattern of violation provisions over mine safety laws. this is an operator that come even in the wake of the worst mining disaster in recent history, continues to use such unsafe practices that just today, mine safety health just ordered today the withdrawal of miners from three different massey mines due to hazardous conditions. but as bad as you bbs record was, a lot has been interpreted to allow them to continue operating without pattern of violation of treatment as long as they can reduce their violations by more than one-third the response to a written warning.

with a record of spot as ubb, it's hardly a sign of a safe mind. and should not be a get out of jail free card to escape the intent of the law. but it's not just of toward a weak interpretations of law to blame. employers also find creative ways to ensure that the system cannot work as we intended, as this congress intended that the mining industry is chronic files have avoid being placed on a pattern of violation status, and avoid paying legitimate penalties like contesting your every citation that is assessed against them. because msh uses only final orders to establish a pattern of violations and average contested citation takes over a year to adjudicate since there are now 16,000 cases backlogged at the federal mine safety and health

review commission. repeat offenders are able to evade pattern of violation status by contesting large numbers of violations. at the upper big branch coal mine for example, massey contested 97% of its significant and substantial violations in 2007. a summer problem was seen in online workplaces while the backlog of cases is not nearly as great as the occupational safety and health review commission, under ocean is weaker law templates don't even have to fix a known hazard until the entire review process is completed. years later. i think this is unacceptable and it's got to change. so we sit here today on the eve of workers memorial day, that's tomorrow, april 20, workers memorial day, a day that a set aside to remember the thousands of men and women who die on the job in the country every year. the best way we can honor their memory is to renew our efforts

to protect workers lives and improve safety and health in our country's coal mines, and other dangerous workplaces. with that i would yield to my friend, senator. >> thank you, chairman harkin. first of all i would ask unanimous consent that the full statement of senator be placed in record. a little over three years ago just after christmas, i got in an airplane with senator ted kennedy, senator jay rockefeller, senator mike enzi, and travel to the sago mine disaster in west virginia. got to see firsthand the tragedy of the deaths of miners in an accident, got to meet first in with the families of those west virginia that had lost their lives. still have the picture of junior that was given to me by his daughter who later attended the signing at the old executive office building of the money act which senator rockefeller

myself, senator enzi and kennedy were proud to be a part of. i take this thing probably more serious and i think about anything because when you look in the face of someone who has lost their loved ones to a tragedy, no matter what that tragedy is, you really understand the full impact of the loss of human life. none of us on this committee want to do anything other than to ensure the laws that we have worked in interest of the safety of miners and make sure that we approach these with very serious and studied opinions. in particular, i was very pleased at that time to work in a deliberate way to make sure that we found that the determination of the cause before ran off half cocked thinking by adding a fine or adding a statute we would improve the situation. i think i'm correct, as domain, you can correct me if i'm wrong, but on the day of the explosion, that we're talking about today there were msh inspectors in the mind. they were just in another part of the mine, which shows you

that even on the day of the problem, if the inspectors that are there to prevent the problem were there, then there must be something they need to do, or we need you. however, i want to point out, because senator rockefeller and i, i'm referring to him because he's sitting and he can correct me if i'm wrong, we went to extensive effort in the minor act to try to target those things we knew we could do to hopefully beat what every person school in his to do and ensure this never happens again. but it's happened. that's a wakeup call for all of us, everybody at msh, everybody at osha and everyone in the united states senate to act on. but we should recognize, too, that enforcement of existing law as important as great a new law that you think is going to get at the problem if you're not using the existing law. and for example, i want to read a few things that msh has the authority to do now.

msh may under section 104 order and india withdrawal of any mind from any part of the mine, or from the entire mind when he has that cannot be immediately if they did is endangering minors. now i'm not about to say that the inspectors in there that they didn't know there was something getting ready to happen, but the obvious he did or they would've had the power to close that mine. msh can seek a temporary permit in charge of relief to close about or take any other appropriate action whatever it finds a mine operator engaged in behavior that constitutes continuing hazard to minors under section 8188 of the miner act. msh determines there is a consistent pattern of significant and substantial violation, then issue a pattern of violation letter under 104 which violations down after issues of the letter msh will issue an order withdrawing myers from the affected area.

msh may under the miner act find flight of violations whereby there has been a reckless or repeated failure to make reasonable efforts to eliminate a known violation of the mandatory health or safety standard that substantially and approximately cost or reasonably could have been expected to cause the death of a series or bottling injury and a violation can cover a fine up to $225,000. my point is not to say we have done enough but it is to say we've given a lot of authority already. and enforcement of that authority and the use of that authority by msh is critical, if the united states senate and all of the senate reach the goal as listed at the ceremony at present spoke at the other night to see to it this never happens again. we want to do that on the miner act of want to do that today, that it's all hands on deck. it's everybody we can find that can do anything to help us find the cause is so can prohibit

those causes. it's funny all the information of who did what, when. is taking the authorities that exist in making sure they were exercised before we blame it on or passing the authority just to correct something that wasn't used anyway. whatever the case, the wives and loved ones from the 29 miners of west virginia lost in the most recent incident are at the top of our mine at the bottom of our hard. i look forward to working with the chairman, senator rockefeller, senator byrd. i think congressman rahal demands a tremendous amount of credit for his entire -- a summer of him on television and he was there at the right hand of the family, the inspectors, the government officials, seeing to it that everything that could be done was done. i commend him for doing it. and senator rockefeller, senator byrd, for the untiring support for efforts to improve mine safety which is so critical for the families and critical for the great state of west virginia. without i yield back my time.

[inaudible] >> senator rockefeller. i best senator rockefeller to join us here and i would like to recognize him for a brief statement. senator rockefeller? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i.e. known as we appreciate -- i enormously appreciate the attitude of yourself and your colleagues in allowing me to be here as indeed you did after the sago mine disaster. we wrote legislation. congressman rahal, i think any artist, is important. i just wish everybody, other than those who were there who are watching in the audience and the other overflow room could have been at the ceremony, miners memorial on sunday, which is one of the most powerful and gripping experiencexperiences that i've ever had.

workplace safety is a born in all industries, but is absolutely critical in those industries where the risks of injury are great and the consequences of poor safety are severe. sadly, we have been there before. after the tragedy of the sago and eric oma. and i had the honors, i joined a committed i would like to be made a permanent member but i'm not going to push the envelope. [laughter] >> and it meant a lot to the families there at the sago that senators kennedy and i would just say in particular senator isakson and center in the were there, because they had not been to west virginia before, in particular that not been to a mine disaster before. and they moved in with those families and talk with them,

and, oh, for a period of quite a long period they were part and parcel. and they became a part in parcel of the legislation that we passed. it would not have passed had it not been for senator isakson and senator enzi and the perseverance that it was as if they became west virginians. so we vow to improve safety in the minds, and we passed the minors act, which we thought was pretty good. we were reacting to what we have seen at sago. and it was a good piece of legislation that didn't prove safety. particular with risk back to a response teams and actually the only piece of federal legislation in the previous 30 years which says something probably not very good. but, frankly, that legislation was not enough. first and foremost, safety is about a company doing the right

thing to develop a true culture of safety. easily said, hard to do, something that i want to be talking with, with mr. main about. we need to find out what is working in safe minds. where people are doing the same thing. they may be larger, they may be smaller. does these are doing the right thing every day, and we cannot forget about what it is about them that allows them to do the same act of mining in the same danger but to do it safely. what do they do that others don't? and then on the other hand, we need to know what is not working, likewise, in more dangerous mine. why do injuries and deaths occur there. were as they don't and minds that are watched over more carefully. because the mine operators show no regard for safety should not

be allowed to gain competitive advantage. because some are being very careful and very specific in the way they try to do safety the right ways and others aren't. and the sad fact is in the coal fields which are remote, far distant in this case, senator isakson, even more distant than sago. way way back in the hills of southern west virginia. so safety is also about state and federal government stepping in. i think toughing of our laws were program, i don't disagree with what you said, senator isakson, but i think there is room for improvement and that we sort of react to the latest mine disaster that is that a good way to do safety legislation? i do think it probably is, but it is a heck of a motivator and that makes us do things that we might not have otherwise done. so we need to grab the spirit of this moment, the sadness of this moment and do our duty. we will learn a lot from this

investigation into this tragedy. that investigation will take six, eight, 10 months. i'm not sure legislation can wait for that. i'm quite sure it can. so therein also lies an immediate problem. i don't think it's necessarily going to be a problem, because i think many of our problems in a system are already quite clear that i would just make for four, mr. chairman, and i will be finished for the moment. we know that msh issued a meet with all for imminent dangers violations but we need to find out if msh is doing all it can do to find them. and if it is using its authority the false extent. two, going to mine safety and health review commission has a backlog of more than 16,000 cases consisting of 82000 violations. that's an awful lot of violations and appeals and all kinds of other things that i think that has to change.

i'm certain that has to change. and we must help do that either by self reforming of msh, or more likely doing it in legislation so msh has no choice but to do it ended budget, budget. help has to fall that. we need to put an end to the loopholes in the law that allows some minds to put profit over safety. we all know what that is. it's the using of the appeal process because that way they can go ahead and mine and since they're giving they don't have to pay a fine. they can go ahead and did. they are doing and that doesn't seem right at all. thirdly, we also need to improve msh's enforcement efforts themselves. and determine what new authority as an agency that msh may need. msh must not be shy about is that it is a culture unto itself. it's a culture which is a different one now i think than the last time we did legislation. and i talk about such things as

subpoena powers, or a little bit far-fetched, but not at all out of the ring, enhanced criminal penalties. and number four, there's also more work to do to protect whistleblowers. i believe in whistle-blowers. i don't believe in a responsible whistleblowers. who just had a really bad week with the wife and they are just furious and want to cause trouble. but there's nothing in me that says that we can't find a way to separate those out and today, not just the 1800 number phone calls, which are removed, but make the whistleblower system work. so, mr. chairman, i thank you for letting me come here and i look forward to this. >> thank you very much, senator rockefeller. again, my personal thanks to you for your great leadership. and so many areas but in this

area which i'm also care so much about, along with you and senator isakson and others. it's been mentioned that congressman nick rahal is here in the audience who represents the third district of west virginia 434 years. born and raised a. that's where the upper big branch disaster occurred. i served in the house for several years with mr. rahal, as to do, ranking member, and again, you're welcome here, congressman rangel. if you'd like to join us up on the floor. or if you'd like to join up here. how do you feel. welcome. now, let me just say to everyone there seems to me to be part of the record in their entirety, i'm going to ask each of our witnesses if they can sum up in about five minutes or so, last. their testimony. we've got i think if i'm not mistaken three different panels. for different panels. we will start first with mr. joe

main, who is, excuse me, since i get my papers straightened out here. find out why am. joe main assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, the u.s. department of labor. again, your statement will be made part of the record in its entirety. if you can sum up in five minutes or so i would sure appreciate it. >> chairman harkin, ranking number in the, members of the committee, thank you for inviting us here today. i wish you were under far different circumstances. i do want to pass on appreciation to senator rockefeller, congressman rahal, staff of senator byrd and others who spent a lot of time with us at the big branch mine. there's been great difficult days a couple weeks ago, and shared with us the difficulties

that is face we have a mine emergency like this. several times a day we've had to call the family together to give him bad news. or just news of hope. that takes a toll on a family that is a sure they're living to the, one can never appreciate and understand. i think that's what drives me in the jobs that i have in that kind of grief in the coal fields of this country. but i do appreciate all the support and help that we had from folks here during those difficult days. and let me express my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the 29 miners who perished in the upper big branch mine and offer my wishes for a speedy recovery to the surviving mine who remains under medical care. we are also very thankful that the other injured miners who has been released from the hospital, our prayers are with them all. but as the president said, we owe them more than prayers.

we owe them action. we owe them accountability. they often know that behind them there's a company that's doing what it takes to protect them and a government is looking out for their safety. i want to remind the committee that we do not just face a safety crisis in this country on the mining site. it's a one of the workplace safety. 14 workers lose their lives every day in this country by just doing their jobs. fatalities in coal mines are preventable. explosions in coal mines are preventable. and the tragedy of the upper big branch did not have to happen. on april 5th, 2010, an explosion occurred at the upper big branch might and took the lives of 29 miners. and initial reports indicate explosion was massive. from 2072 today, at the upper big branch mine. in 2007, mr. chairman, inspectors on site at the upper big branch until 934 hours.

that increase to 1854 hours in 2009, double the amount of time within those two years. doing those inspections found an increasing number of violations, citations and include significant and substantial violations. in the summer 2007, msh, however the mine operator was able to afford status by reducing his level of serious violations. the mine again had a significant spike in safety violations in 2009 were msh issued five and 15 violations and citations and/or. in 2009, msh issued 48 withdrawal orders for repeated violations, and that was 19 times the national rate. just as traveling to massey mice have more citations. one of these, is a pattern violent. if msh prevails, it will be the first my pace on a pattern

violations status since the passage of the 1977 mine act. so in the wake of this tragedy, we know the weaknesses even in our strongest are not clear. most important, changes are needed. changes are made for mine operator to take more response but for the high number of violations being cited in mines across the country. increasing mine opera inspection requirements in reforming the pattern of violation program. trantwo's program should be most effective over hold bad actors accountable for policies that is the destination inherited make it easy for operators like massey to avoid the pattern of violations status. matthews the popular pattern of violations status in testing the violations, bloc msh and using violations to put the mine in a potential pattern of violations status for over 500 days. when you figure it's a two year history that is used out of the

process, another 500 days you're looking at three years to get to a start of a problem. the current system allows operators to avoid status by reducing its violations by more than 30% and 90 days which is the format is used it for big branch by did this in 2007 and avoided the pattern status. in terms of reform there are steps that we are taking. our regulatory agenda focused on regulation requires countries to take responsibility to find and fix problems before they are discovered. what we call the plan prevent and protect system. secretary solis is committee change that catch me if you can about everywhere it exists. and some of this regulation is will we are talking was announced to the federal register yesterday. we're soliciting information on the is a comprehensive safety management programs and plan a proposal rule to reinstitute the prescient examination violations have mandatory safety and health standards that was removed about 1992, which is curtly can take

from the 1969 coal mine health and safety act. new regulations simple by the criteria are also plan. in addition we're considering greater use of other tools to stop scofflaw might our prisoners to seek permanent or relief which has been talked about today. we need budgetary rigor and legislative action to solve the backlog problem. while the backlog of the commission adversely impacts the use of msh's current pattern more fundamentally it has severely reduced the current value of its penalties. there are more than 16,000 cases pending before the commission. we should build on the administration's proposed 27% increase in the commission's budget to provide sufficient personnel to quickly resolve disputes. and testimony for the u.s. house of representatives off ever 23rd, i outlined specific measures to address the backlog