NPR investigates Massey Energy mines, finds high injury rates at several

After the Upper Big Branch mine accident, the investigative team began looking at federal safety reports on multiple Massey mines.

Robert Benincasa is a producer for computer-assisted reporting at NPR.

“It’s not easy to get a comprehensive look at a mining company from the way that the Mine Safety and Health Administration puts its records on the Web site,” Benincasa said. “You can get the records of one mine at a time but then to bring them all together is more difficult.”

From the federal records, Benincasa collected information on last year's injury rates at Massey’s 35 active underground coal mines.

Injury rates are determined by dividing the number injuries at a mine by the of hours worked at the mine. It’s a measure of how frequently injuries occur.

According to the NPR news investigation, last year’s reports show that ten Massey owned mines had injury rates above the national rate and four of those mines had injury rates more than double the national rate. The national rate is 4.03 injuries per 200,000 hours worked.

“We published numbers on all 35 mines, so the public could see which ones had issues and which ones were doing better,” said Benincasa.  

Benincasa says as the story of the Upper Big Branch mine accident has developed, questions have been raised about mine safety in general. He says the end of NPR’s investigative story hints at whether the system that regulates coal mine safety provides enough incentive for operators to comply with the law.

“Massey itself says the litigation from the accidents won’t really hurt them because they’re insured,” Benincasa said. “If you can have these accidents and the company doesn’t suffer and the shareholders don’t suffer, where is the incentive?”

Click here to listen to and read the NPR story by Howard Berkes and Robert Benincasa.