The U.S. Develops a Safety Conscience
How We Got Today’s
Safety Laws
©Mar. 2008 Dr. B. C. Paul
An Industrial Revolution
• Period of 1870 to 1910 saw an undeveloped
rural economy become a great world
economic engine
• Fueled by
– Investment
• New home grown investor industrialist class
– Endless supply of cheap labor - from
immigration
– Coal
Growth of Coal As an Energy Source
Coal as a Percentage of American Energy Consumption,
1850-1900
Source: Sam H. Schurr and Bruce C. Netschert, Energy in the American Economy, 1850-1975 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1960), 36-37.
Consequences
• Fabric of Tradition was Torn
• New Politics of Power
• Coal to fuel the industrial revolution purchased
with blood
4000
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
3000
2000
1000
3
18 0s
4
18 0s
5
18 0s
6
18 0s
7
18 0s
8
18 0s
9
19 0s
00
s
0
18
Number Killed
US Coal Mine Deaths
Decade
# Killed
# Explosions
Not So Flattering Headlines
• U.S. had the highest accident rate in the
world
– Not just coal – whole industrial machine
• Only advanced nation on earth without any
form of worker compensation or liability
• If there was regulation it wasn’t working
Profile of an Industry
• Class Distinction in Practitioners
– Miners were considered a skilled class
• Could cut with picks or other tools
• Broke coal usually with explosives
– Laborer class hand loaded into cars often pulled
out by mules
• Early miners were skilled owners who hired
laborers to work with them at small mines
– Owners and laborers worked together
A Rent in the Fabric of Society
• 1890’s - Increasing demand challenges of
going back into the earth created a need for
capital and a new class that controlled
capital – The Coal Barons
– The people who did the work no longer
controlled the facilities of Production
How Did We Mine at the Turn of the Century
Mining was conventional – a block of coal at the face was undercut (originally laying on your side and cutting
With a pick)
Drill and Blast the coal into the undercut
Then load with shovels into cars to haul out
Sometimes they would try to skip the undercut and blow the coal out – called shooting off the solid
Turn of the Century Ventilation
• Could no longer rely on
natural ventilation
pressure
• Would build an upcast
shaft to the surface with a
vertical funnel on top
– Then light a fire in at the
bottom of the shaft
• Induced a draft like a
chimney
– If you were really
sophisticated you would use
a furnace at the bottom
Wasn’t That Dangerous?
• Oh Ya!
• Avondale Pennsylvania Sept 6, 1869
– Fire at the bottom of the Man Shaft set the shaft
timbers on fire
– The timbers burned and the shaft collapsed
– 110 miners suffocated
– One of the worst disasters up to that time
A Single Entry Ventilation System
Note there are no overcasts and air circulates
From one face area to the next
Doors were used as regulators to determine
How much air was on a section
The cuts were often near dead air spaces
Sometimes they would run an air hose from
A compressor to push air to the face
The Rise of Mechanization
(and the coal barons)
• Late 1880s and decade of 1890s was an era of
mechanization
Mechanization of Ohio Coal
26% by 1896
49% by 1900
20000000
15000000
Mechanized
10000000
Manual
5000000
19
00
18
98
18
96
18
94
18
92
18
90
0
18
88
Annual Tons
25000000
What Was Mechanized
Mechanical Picks began
To be used for undercutting
coal
Mining cycle was conventional – Step #1 Undercut the Coal
Start of Chain Cutters
Drilling Saw Mechanization
Step #2 drill holes in to the undercut
coal
Unbelievable
Step #3 Charge the
Holes – black powder
And dynamite
How is this for a flame
Safety lamp
Yes it is a oil lamp on
The miners hat! – some people used candles
Isn’t Having People With Candles on
their heads loading Power
Dangerous?
• Oh Ya!
– Winter Quarters Mine Utah – May 1, 1900
– A Miner with his cap lamp lit up the main powder
storage area
• The explosion stirred up coal dust and spread through the mine
• 200 to 350 killed
• What about these folks walking into methane
filled dead-end entries
– Ok we kind of loose count of how many on that one
After Shooting Coal Was Loaded By Hand
This job was done by unskilled labor teams – Sometimes Father and Son
Laborers Were Paid by Production and tagged their cars of
coal
In some mines the
Professional miners under-cut
Left loader teams to shoot
And load their own coal
Don’t upset the professional
Miners or the boss or you
Might not get a good cut.
Not the best way to make
The laborers concerned about
Safety.
Mining Under the New Capitalist Class
• Deeper Mining Needed Pumps for drainage and
equipment for ventilation
– Beyond the means of the artisan peasant
• Capital class hired miners and laborers at given
rates per ton of coal produced
– Piece work system
– Owners/Artisans and Laborers no longer worked
together
• Monopoly on opportunity
– Best opportunities for wealth were in mine work and
one group generally controlled everything
The Mining Town
• Remote locations required infrastructure
– Coal Barons often built towns – homes – stores
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Residents worked in company mines
Lived in Company Housing
Shopped at Company Stores
Received care from company doctors
Often Used Company Script (money)
Saved or took loans from company
People in power owned everything the workers
needed for life
The Capitalist and Government
• New Investor Class felt they were chosen
– By God
– Or by superior natural selection
• It was the responsibility to lead the people
– Wealth and Pride linked
• Those who came to power either were or had to be
backed by the investor class
– Result was that those who controlled the economic
engines and those who governed were the same
It’s the Economy Stupid
• 1992 remark as Clinton defeated Bush Sr.
• The industrial engines powered the goods of
everyday living
– Promised to raise the wellbeing of the people
– Or at least those who ran the government
• No one wanted to shut-off the economic engines
– Those engines ran on cheap coal and cheap labor
– A lack of will to control safety
Barriers to Safety
• No One Can Say No!
– Government is charged with protecting the
people but
• What happens when those who govern own the
means of production? – Who watches the watchers?
• Believe that economic growth will best serve the
people – you mustn’t tamper with the economic
engines
• Pride – Wealth and Power of Rulers also fueled by
the economic engines
– The People Have No Organization and only the
voice those in power allow them
More Barriers
• Growth Pressures
– Almost need time to pause – look around and think
– Get the timing right is hard
• When growth is hot hard to look around
• When growth is slow often looking to cut – safety doesn’t at
first glance produce coal
– Workers themselves were linked directly to production
• Your skills will save you
• It can’t happen to me
• Huge crews of cheap disposable labor running
around underground
– Dispersed locations hard to supervise if you wanted to
The State of Regulation
• U.S. Government was a Federal System
– Different powers were delegated to different levels of government
– State (Provincial) Governments had responsibility for welfare of
the people
• Federal Government did not regulate mining safety except in the
territories that didn’t have State governments
• Regulation was basically at the blessing of the owner class
and what was needed for strong social values of the time.
– Had some child labor laws – usually for those under 10 to 12
– Whole States had about 6 mine inspectors
•
•
•
•
Could go around and report on conditions or make suggestions
Their power was their personal influence
Some had limited closure power
(BUT NO ONE WANTS TO TURN OFF THE ENGINE)
What Did the Laws Do
• States such as Pennsylvania had qualification laws
– Mine manager and foreman had to meet certain state
training standards to get certification papers
• Powder handling was still pretty much unregulated
– Child Labor laws – early work only looked at gainfully
employed above 10 years
– Ventilation – usually required some type of ventilation
support
• Fans were only State Inspector recommendations
• Funnels and draft furnaces at shaft bottoms were very
acceptable and dominated even into early 20th Century