J. Brett Harvey, President and Chief
Executive Office of CONSOL Energy Inc., the nation’s largest
underground coal mining company, called on the coal industry to abandon
its incremental approach to mine safety improvement and drive accident
rates to zero at every mine in the nation.
“We need to change the paradigm and we need to change it now,” Harvey
said in a speech today before the Utah Mining Association annual
meeting in Park City, Utah.
(**Note: Brett Harvey’s speech may be viewed in its entirety by
logging on to www.consolenergy.com and clicking on “About CONSOL” and
then click on “Speeches”)
“What industry must change is our incremental approach to safety
improvement because it creates an unintended tolerance to accidents.
We need to get to zero!”
Harvey said that improving safety in incremental steps, while
successful in reducing accidents, did not eliminate them. “Incremental
improvement still means people are getting hurt,” he explained. “If we
accept this approach, we had better be prepared to ask for the
volunteers who want to get injured this year.”
PITTSBURGH (August 23, 2007) – J. Brett Harvey, President and Chief Executive Office of CONSOL Energy Inc., the nation’s largest underground coal mining company, called on the coal industry to abandon its incremental approach to mine safety improvement and drive accident rates to zero at every mine in the nation.
“We need to change the paradigm and we need to change it now,” Harvey said in a speech today before the Utah Mining Association annual meeting in Park City, Utah.
(**Note: Brett Harvey’s speech may be viewed in its entirety by logging on to www.consolenergy.com and clicking on “About CONSOL” and then click on “Speeches”)
“What industry must change is our incremental approach to safety improvement because it creates an unintended tolerance to accidents. We need to get to zero!”
Harvey said that improving safety in incremental steps, while successful in reducing accidents, did not eliminate them. “Incremental improvement still means people are getting hurt,” he explained. “If we accept this approach, we had better be prepared to ask for the volunteers who want to get injured this year.”
Harvey, a fourth-generation coal miner who hails from Utah, told the audience that he, like all Americans, was both saddened and frustrated by the events that occurred in the recent mine accident in Crandall Canyon, Utah. “It was a tragedy that I wish had never happened.”
“However,” Harvey continued, “it did happen. How we deal with the issue of mine safety going forward may very well determine the future of our industry.” He said only when mining accidents are the exception rather than the rule will the industry’s many stakeholders regain their confidence in coal mining.
Harvey told the audience that CONSOL Energy had already taken the first steps. “For our part, we will not wait for others in the industry (to act). We are taking action now.” He said that despite operating some of the safest underground mines in the country, CONSOL has adopted a new approach to safety. “We start with the premise that our normal state of operation is no accidents. An accident is an abnormality that is unacceptable.”
He said that the new approach is more than just words. “Our approach means that safety trumps everything else we do. It trumps production, it trumps profits, it trumps all other rules, policies or procedures.”
Harvey said the new approach both empowers employees and assigns accountability. “It empowers every employee, whether hourly or salaried, to stop the normal course of operation if he or she believes that safety is being compromised,” he said, “and it makes every employee accountable for his or her own safety performance.”
Harvey said he expected the Congress to hold additional hearings on mine safety as a result of the accident at Crandall Canyon but he encouraged members to visit several mines before taking action. “They need to understand that every mine is different,” he explained. “They need to understand that generalizing a provision of law for all mines from events at a single mine will not always yield the expected results or advance the cause of safety.”
He also encouraged Congress to help the industry in the development of better communications technology; to help make improvements in the monitoring of critical systems; and to assist in the training of the large number of new employees coming into the industry as a result of retirements.
“Safety is not management’s responsibility,” he said. “It is not our employees’ responsibility. It is everybody’s responsibility – from the guy shoveling belts, to the accountant at headquarters, to me. We are all responsible and we are all accountable for the safety of ourselves and that of our fellow employees.”
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CONSOL Energy Inc., a high-Btu bituminous coal and coal bed methane company, is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Equity Index and has annual revenues of $3.7 billion. It has 20 bituminous coal mining complexes in six states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.5 billion tons. In addition, the company is a majority shareholder in one of the largest U.S. producers of coalbed methane gas, CNX Gas Corporation. CONSOL Energy was named one of America’s most admired companies in 2005 by Fortune magazine. It received the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining for the company’s innovative reclamation practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003, the company was listed in Information Week magazine’s “Information Week 500” list for its information technology operations. In 2002, the company received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award. Additional information about the company can be found at its web site: www.consolenergy.com.
