DRUG DANGER IN MINES

Coal operators have told Kentucky mining regulators they need help in
dealing with substance abuse in their workforce.

Fine. We need new rules that don't simply allow, but actually require
operators to report instances of drug and/or alcohol abuse among their
employees. Let's have them.

We need regulations that allow the state to pull certification cards
of miners with real, proven problems of that kind. Let's adopt them.

Meanwhile, let's also insist that coal companies do everything
necessary to make sure (1) only those who are drug- and alcohol-free
get hired, and (2) everybody on the payroll works clean.

The good news is that, earlier this year, the state Mining Board began
considering legislation to allow state-sponsored drug testing at
mines. And the Office of Mine Safety and Licensing has asked for that
authority.

A specific plan should be offered to the General Assembly in a few
months. And, in a rare show of solidarity, union spokesmen and
responsible operators both have supported adoption of something like
this. So Gov. Ernie Fletcher should consider moving ahead now, with an
executive order to get such a program started.

A good first step, of course, would be for owners and operators of all
coal mines to conduct pre-employment drug screening and random drug
testing. And for supervisors who work most closely with miners to
exercise zero tolerance of drug and alcohol use.

Given the dangers inherent in mining, there's no room for flexibility.
Those who refuse to be tested, and thus pose a threat to themselves
and others, shouldn't expect to stay on the payroll.

The state should pull their certification cards, just as it should
suspend the mining privileges of those whose tests come back positive.

Of course, those with a problem should be restored to their jobs after
completing a rehabilitation program.

And treatment should be available at a reasonably convenient
location.

More responsible mining operations already conduct drug screening, and
some of the results are frightening. Consider the testimony of
Constance McGuire, owner of East Kentucky Occupational Health Services
in Prestonsburg, which does screening for several coal operations.

She reports that half of the miners at one Eastern Kentucky site
tested positive. Miners' drugs of choice apparently include marijuana
and prescription pills.

For years, regional activists have condemned sociologists for claiming
that mountaineers are fatalistic. But what do you call it when
Appalachian miners crawl into tiny spaces, deep inside mountains, and
operate heavy equipment in dangerous circumstances, all in a
drug-altered condition?

State mining officials frequently get calls from worried women who
report that their husbands or boyfriends are "taking stuff" or
"smoking stuff."

They want somebody to look into the situation before something
terrible happens. But state inspectors have no power to order drug
tests.

When tragedy does occur, dead victims may be examined for drug use.
But there is no toxicology report on others involved in the incident,
who may have been using something.

The regulations don't call for that, even when co-workers, family,
friends or neighbors hint that drugs or alcohol might have been involved.

The geography of substance abuse in Kentucky is a dangerous
overlay:

Prescription drug abuse is particularly severe and widespread in the
Appalachian coalfield. Methamphetamine labs are a problem in much of
rural Kentucky, including the Western Kentucky coal region.

So the dangerous business of coal mining is located hard by the
treachery of illicit drugs. And there's no effective system in place
to protect the one from the other.

Irresponsible operators want to keep mining coal, not waste time and
money on substance abuse control. Miners want to keep their
all-too-scarce, high-paying jobs; they don't want to cause trouble in
the front office or among their co-workers by making an issue of drug
and alcohol problems.

Sometimes, government is the answer.