That is a very high number, and it is usually indicative of a very poor safety record.

I've been criticizing them for 20 years for doing it that way. It's not good government.

With the price of coal so high, you have operators coming out of the woodwork, trying to get into any seam of coal they can to make a quick buck, opening up a lot of little dog holes.

Basically, if you see 73 accumulation violations, that's a sign of a mine operator who is not too concerned with safety. It's troubling if you see that many.

You can't expect miners to come in and testify about unsafe conditions in the mine when you have their employers across the table from them.

It's the next enforcement step and it's never used.

I can't over-emphasize how important pre-shift examinations are. It is a key provision put in the act to protect miners' safety.

If you have a foreman who is not doing pre-shift examinations properly, you should discharge that person, because every miner working there is relying on that person.

That's very unusual and a red flag that there's some safety problems at that mine.