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MSHA News Release: [04/22/2003]
Contact Name: Amy
Louviere
Phone Number: (202) 693-9423
MSHA Urges Kids to “Stay Out and Stay
Alive!”
National Safety Campaign Kicks off Fifth
Year
ARLINGTON, Va. —The U.S.
Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today
kicked off its annual “Stay Out-Stay Alive” national public awareness
campaign to warn children about the dangers of exploring and playing on mine
property. Since 1999, more than 100 children and adults have died in
recreational accidents on mine property.
“Active and abandoned mine sites can be an irresistible draw to
outdoor enthusiasts, but they can also be deadly,” said Dave D. Lauriski,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. “If you
haven’t been trained as a miner, I urge you to find safer places to
explore, because mines and quarries definitely are not playgrounds.”
There are approximately 14,000 active and as many as 500,000 abandoned
mines in the United States. As cities and towns spread into the surrounding
countryside and more people visit remote locations, the possibility of contact
with an active or abandoned mine increases. Over the next two weeks, MSHA
personnel will deliver safety talks in schools throughout the country to
educate children about the importance of steering clear of these sites.
Lauriski can personally testify to the dangers, having participated in
both a rescue and a recovery at two abandoned underground mines in Utah. In
1989, a 10-year-old Boy Scout who became separated from his troop during a hike
was rescued from an abandoned mine five days later. In 1996, Lauriski helped
recover the body of an 18-year-old spelunker who fell to his death down an old
mine shaft.
Hazards in underground abandoned mines include deep vertical shafts,
horizontal openings supported by rotting timbers, unstable rock formations, and
the presence of unused or misfired explosives. Water-filled quarries may
conceal rock ledges and old machinery, and the water often is deceptively deep
and dangerously cold. Old surface mines contain hills of loose materials in
stockpiles or refuse heaps that can easily collapse.
MSHA pioneered “Stay Out—Stay Alive” in 1999 and today,
more than 90 federal and state agencies, private organizations, businesses and
individuals are active partners in the campaign.
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