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Introduction
The case study analysis has been presented to identify the fake safety record case of Massey Energy, a coal mine company of the West Virginia. Reportedly, the organization created fake safety records to mislead the federal investigators about the coal mine disaster case during 2010 that killed 29 miners (Costello & Williams, 2011). The study has delivered the role and responsibility of both the Massey Energy as well as federal investigators to reveal the truth behind the tragic mine explosion.
Business Strategy of Mine owners
Reason behind misleading the federal inspectors
After fourteen months of the tragic mine explosion in West Virginia, the group of federal safety inspectors discovered that Massey Energy fakes the safety records to hide the safety negligence. There are two set of safety records found during the federal safety investigation. Precisely, one of the records has clearly mentioned about the problems associated with excessive dust and poor maintenance of equipment. On the other note, a clean set of safety record has been prepared for the investigators to cover up the safety guidelines and negligence of the management of Massey Energy. Meanwhile, the actual reason behind setting up the misleading records is to make the investigators believe that the explosion was triggered due to naturally formed methane gas (Costello & Williams, 2011). Also, the fake safety records were created to conceal the source of the incident that was the poor maintenance of equipment.
Influence of organizational culture in keeping records
Mine Culture of the US Mining Industry has also largely contributed to creating the fake safety records. Though the miners were concerned about the safety measures and coal dust conditions, they were reluctant to complain. Precisely, the fear of vengeance held back the miners influencing faking safety records by the management.
In mine culture, if a worker complained about the safety issues and poor maintenance of equipment, the power of the directorate would certainly come into the action. As a result of the scenario, the trepidation of retribution has discouraged the mine workers from filing a complaint. Also, the employee might have to lose the job as a result of the consequences (Costello & Williams, 2011).
Role of federal inspectors
The primary role of the federal inspectors is to identify any dispute related to health and safety measure in a mine. It can be said from the case study that the accidents have caused because of the negligence of the federal inspectors (Grayson, 2008). The federal inspectors were unable to identify the fraud papers and the actual safety measures that were implemented by the mine owners. Hence, the inspectors should be held responsible for this situation.
Conclusion
The given case study shows how the mines owners neglect the importance of maintain a proper safety measures in the coal mines. Additionally, the negligence of the federal inspectors also leads to such disasters in mines. Therefore, the government must conduct proper surveillance and strict action against such negligence to safeguard the rights of the miners.
References
Costello, T. & Williams, B. (2011). Mine Owners Cook Safety Books. NBC Nightly News. Retrieved January 2017, from https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=53799
Grayson, R. (2008). Improving mine safety technology and training in the U.S. recommendations of the Mine Safety Technology and Training Commission. Journal Of Coal Science And Engineering (China), 14(3), 425-431. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12404-008-0093-2
