Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 14, 1993                   TAG: 9307140380
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

MINING STANDARDS ENDORSED

The subcommittee of lawmakers and industry representatives is rewriting the 1966 law. The General Assembly will consider the panel's recommendations next year.

The subcommittee was formed after an explosion killed eight men in a Wise County mine last December.

As part of the subcommittee's study, the Division of Legislative Services surveyed 464 miners, mine operators, inspectors, consultants and others associated with mining. Responses were received from 175.

"The response was much greater than we expected," Frank Munyan, a staff attorney for Legislative Services, told the panel.

But he cautioned that the survey was not scientific and said the comments written by many respondents might be of more benefit than the numbers themselves.

Respondents were asked whether the Mine Safety Law provides adequate standards for electrical systems, roof control, handling of explosives and hazardous materials, and 16 other categories.

In most categories, two-thirds to three-fourths of those surveyed said standards are adequate.

However, coal miners and operators disagreed on the adequacy of many of the standards. For example, 87 percent of coal mine operators said the standards for dust levels are adequate. Only 45 percent of coal miners agreed.

Inspectors often were more critical of the standards than either the miners or the operators. Seventy-two percent said the dust level standards are too lax, for example.