Notice is hereby given that the undersigned authorized representative of the Secretary of the Interior upon making an inspection of this mine on June 3 1970 finds, in accordance with Sec. 104. (b), or

104.(i), of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (P.L. 91-173), a violation of the mandatory

health or safety standard set forth in Section 304(a) of the Act or Regulations promulgated by the

Secretary of the Interior.

Condition or practice:

Float coal dust in dangerous quantities had accumulated on top of the rock dust. in No. 6 entry 9 butt face.

The foregoing violation shall be totally abated by

8 o'clock X a.m., p.m. on

June.....

19.70...

NOTE:

Review of this Notice pursuant to Sec. 105. (a) of the Act may be made upon application to the Board of Mine Operations Appeals.

Form 104. (b) or 104. (i) Notice

Notice is hereby given that on ..June 4.

1970, the undersigned authorized representative of the

Secretary of the Interior made a special inspection of the above-named mine:

and in accordance with Sec. 104. (b), or 104.(i), of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969

(P.L. 91-173), finds that the violation of the mandatory health or safety standard set forth in Section 304(a)

of the

No.

Act or Regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior, as described in Notice of Violation
1
June 3
1970, was totally abated or not totally abated.

dated

Float coal dust accumulating on top of the rock dust in No. 6 entry 9 butt 2 face was adequately inerted by the application of additional rock dust.

The time for total abatement of the foregoing violation is hereby extended to p.m. on

o'clock a.m.,

19.........

NOTE: Review of this Notice pursuant to Sec. 105. (a) of the Act may be made upon application to the Board of Mine Operations Appeals,

Form 104. (b) or 104. (i) Extension

Senator WILLIAMS. Tell me this. What kind of mine is this in terms of gas? Is it a hazardous mine?

Mr. OZONISH. We have around 4 million cubic feet of gas produced in a 24-hour period.

Senator WILLIAMS. I think that would put this in the extra hazardous category.

Mr. OZONISH. I imagine it would; yes.

Senator WILLIAMS. Would you know if there were another spot inspection here of a Federal inspector since June 3? Would you know that?

Mr. OZONISH. Records would show it but I don't have the records. Senator WILLIAMS. But would you know it in your position as committeeman? Would you know that, sir?

Mr. OZONISH. No, sir.

Senator WILLIAMS. You say there has not been.

Mr. OZONISH. No. I say that when a Federal inspector comes around he usually contacts the Safety Committee and informs us that he is going to make the inspection.

Senator WILLIAMS. How many are on the committee? Three of you? Mr. OZONISH. Yes, sir.

Senator WILLIAMS. Is that standard for every local, three committeemen?

Mr. OZONISH. Standard with three and some have more. Robena has more than three; I think they have six. They have two main portals and one safety committee cannot cover the whole mine.

Senator WILLIAMS. All right.

Mr. OZONISH. That is all you want?

Senator WILLIAMS. No. Do you have anything else? I interrupted

you.

Mr. OZONISH. I have a lot but I think we have others that want to speak.

Senator WILLIAMS. Tell me this. Now in the Gateway mine, what are the conditions in terms of water in the mine?

Mr. OZONISH. You mean accumulations of water and working conditions?

Senator WILLIAMS. Yes.

Mr. OZONISH. We don't have that.

Senator WILLIAMS. You don't have water. How about the equipment that sprays water to keep down the dust?

Mr. OZONISH. Our machines are equipped with sprays. We have from 27 up to 57 sprays on our machines.

Senator WILLIAMS. How is the water supply for the sprays of the machines, pretty good?

Mr. OZONISH. Good.

Senator WILLIAMS. When you have an inspection does that include a look at the sprays to see if they are working all right?

Mr. OZONISH. When we make our inspection in the section we have the operator of that machine to pull that machine back from where he is working. Usually we find out of 15 or 20 sprays maybe one or two won't be working. But when we report that, it is taken care of right there. But it seems like lots of times that they wait for the safety committee to make those inspections before they are found. Senator WILLIAMS. You are talking about the safety committee. I was talking about the Federal inspector.

Mr. OZONISH. He inspects them.

Senator WILLIAMS. How big is your mine, and how long does it take an inspector to inspect a mine?

Mr. OZONISH. Three or four weeks.

Senator WILLIAMS. Really?

Mr. OZONISH. Well, we have a big mine, a very big mine. We employ over 500 men there.

Senator WILLIAMS. That is how long an inspection takes?

Mr. OZONISH. Yes, sir.

Senator WILLIAMS. I am glad I asked the question. I didn't realize that.

Mr. OZONISH. To do a good job. It would take him maybe 4 weeks to do a good job.

Senator WILLIAMS. Is that right?

Mr. OZONISH. That is a big problem.

Senator WILLIAMS. Now there are other inspections that are for a specific purpose?

Mr. OZONISH. That is right.

Senator WILLIAMS. The extra hazardous mine, extra hazardous in terms of gas, there really is supposed to be a check there every few days but that is a test to check the gas in the atmosphere of the mine, right? Mr. OZONISH. In near the working conditions, working face where the accumulation of gas is usually found.

Senator WILLIAMS. So that could be done rapidly, it does not take much time to check the gas?

Mr. OZONISH. Well, I would say it would take—you cannot do that in any say 15 or 20 minutes now. You can do that.

Senator WILLIAMS. Check it over the period of a shift or what? Mr. OZONISH. I would say you could do it, yes.

Now the new law requires that you must make an inspection every 5 days where you have accumulation of over 100,000 cubic feet of gas for a 24-hour period. That is one thing we should have at our mine. That is, we have never had that since this new law came into effect.

Senator WILLIAMS. That is what I was trying to get at. That inspection check that is supposed to take place every 5 days, how long does it take?

Mr. OZONISH. It takes at least a week.

Senator WILLIAMS. But it is supposed to be done every 5 days.
Mr. OZONISH. Yes. You could not do it.

Senator WILLIAMS. Now wait a minute.

Mr. OZONISH. This is not something you go in here and inspect, this mine is scattered all over the area. It is a big area.

Senator WILLIAMS. What we are saying then is that one inspector ought to be living there at your mine.

Mr. FEDER. Kept there all the time.

Mr. PRICE. Kept there all the time.

Mr. OZONISH. That, Senator Williams, is at our mine. Robena is a bigger mine.

Senator WILLIAMS. We know that under the law that we enacted it calls for a lot of inspections, a lot more inspections than were required before that law.

Mr. OZONISH. Yes.

Senator WILLIAMS. Now they tell us that the Bureau does not have nough inspectors to inspect up to the demands of the law. How long

would it take to train men to become inspectors? Do they have to go to college 4 years to do this?

Mr. ÖZONISH. No. You have men that will go to take the examinations for inspectors who if they qualify, which most of them we had out of this last exam did, I think 300 passed the test and we have not heard that any of them had been put on since then.

Senator WILLIAMS. I see. There is not a shortage of men who are capable of doing the job of an inspector?

Mr. OZONISH. No.

Senator WILLIAMS. Not a shortage of men?

Mr. OZONISH. No. There are qualified men that could be put into the Federal inspector job right today if they would put them in.

Senator WILLIAMS. You say when there was an examination 300 qualified.

Mr. OZONISH. Yes.

Senator WILLIAMS. Who have not been called.

Mr. OZONISH. That is right.

Senator WILLIAMS. When was that examination?

Mr. OZONISH. Oh, it has been 3 months ago. I talked to a Federal inspector out at our plant, Rudolph Havanic, I think.

Senator WILLIAMS. Zavora?

Mr. OZONISH. No; he is the one that told me out of the test that was taken 300 passed.

Senator WILLIAMS. Where do they take this test?

Mr. OZONISH. Different places; Greensburg, Uniontown, probably Washington.

Senator WILLIAMS. I think that will be one of the first things when we get back to Washington later this afternoon we will put in a letter. Who is the acting head of this Bureau of Mines, by the way?

Mr. FEDER. Earl Hayes.

Mr. OZONISH. This Lucas is supposed to be appointed and I was into Mr. Feder's office about a week ago on this situation. We feel that Lucas is not a qualified man to be appointed on that job.

Senator WILLIAMS. What do you folks know about Lucas?

Mr. OZONISH. What we know about Lucas is only what we read.
Senator WILLIAMS. In the United Mine Workers Journal?

Mr. OZONISH. And the United Mine Workers Journal, we don't approve of that because Boyle is going along with the appointment. Senator WILLIAMS. Where have you read otherwise? Isn't that the most reliable source of information, the miners' own journal?

Mr. OZONISH. We don't feel that way. The journal hasn't given us the honest writing or opinion of anything. This man Lucas was appointed once before, or I think his name was put in for this job once before and he was turned down because he was favored too much for the company. We feel that we don't approve of Lucas' name being on there for that job, he is not qualified.

Naturally he is an educated man but he has only had 5 years' experience in the coal mines. A man with 5 years' experience in the coal mine being made the head of the Bureau of Inspection, we feel that he is not the qualified man. There are other qualified men who have 15 or 20 years in a coal mine who are more qualified than he is.

That is the feeling throughout this district. I would say Mr. Bishop here, his local doesn't approve of his nomination for that job.

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