Why Mining Safety Legislation Is Structured To Fail

With the recent coal-mining disaster in West Virginia, the media has unfailingly sought out opinions on the need for more mine safety legislation. Like almost any question or issue in the public arena there are always at least two positions. In this case the reactions seem to the obvious “yes better legislation/regulation is needed to insure miners’ safety”; and the idea that what is really needed is for the proper and effective enforcement of the existing legislation.

And who would oppose these sentiments? No one would, at least not overtly nor publicly. But the process that political and governmental leaders will use to get there will betray these admirable aspirations. They won’t do it purposely or with any ill-intention; but they will do their best and yet they will fall short of their objective. The reason for their failure is that they will persist in relying on an approach and method for achieving mining safety that they have been using up until now. They will establish a commission/panel to work out new and better regulations based on the results of the study of this latest incident and the information that will be uncovered that contributed to the disaster.

There is nothing wrong or illogical about what they are trying; and it is a necessary exercise in understanding what the problems were and what kind of procedures and precautions need to be in place to prevent recurrences of the disaster. But here is where they get tripped up. They believe that once they pass new rules that they will be able to enforce them and prevent opportunities for industry players to game the system, push the envelope, or flatly attempt to by-pass or avoid compliance. And here is where the check-on, find violations and then apply punitive fines approach results in the problem. The dynamic that it creates is a win-lose one that rewards a competitive conflict between the governmental agency that works to enforce the law, and the companies that will see benefits from finding ways to prevent them from finding reasons to fine them.

So the question that remains is, why not approach the problem with a better solution? Why not modify the approach; and set the process so that it actively rewards industry players for their mine safety performance? Make it worth their while to constantly seek out ways to be better than others in the business.