By Jake Jarvis

September 19, 2018 - Some West Virginia lawmakers questioned Tuesday whether state-level office that inspects coal mines is needed when a federal-level office also completes inspections.

A performance evaluation report released during an interim legislative committee meeting found that the state’s Office of Miners’ Health and Safety Training (MHST) is still needed. However, its work could be improved, the report contends.

“We found that the second set of eyes does serve a purpose,” said Noah Browning, a senior analyst with the Legislature. “Unfortunately, we aren’t able to separate out and identify what the absence of MHST testing might look like. But we do believe that they do serve a purpose, and they are working to reduce the injury rate.”

MHST inspects mines and offers safety training. The analysts were asked to evaluate whether the state office was still needed, considering the federal government operates a similar office that inspects mines based on federal standards.

“I admit and I agree with you that, at the very beginning, there may have been a reason for this agency to exist,” said Del. Diana Graves, R-Kanawha. “But I don’t see anything in here so far that tells me it’s worth $14 million a year and we’re significantly reducing the number of injuries with our coal miners.”

From the year 2000 to 2010, the rate of injuries in West Virginia’s mines decreased annually, according to the evaluation. But that took a turn in 2013, when the injuries started to steadily increase again.

The most common injuries that have contributed to the injury rate increase are “handling of materials” and “slipping and falling,” a copy of the report shows. But the MHST has not be able to say why those types of injuries are happening more frequently.

The audit offers two explanations for why the MHST is unable to explain the coal mine injury rate. For one, the audit says, the agency does not set benchmarks for overall injury rates, injury rates by type of mining or by type of injury.

The agency also doesn’t use data analysis to look at the number of injuries. If it did, the audit said, the agency could “identify the root cause of the increasing injury rate.” But to do that kind of data analysis, the evaluation said, the office would need more money.

“The agency does a good job at their job, the day in and day out — they’re in the mines doing the inspections,” Browning said. “When we think of data analysis, we think of taking it to the next level by placing geotags over it to see if injuries are occurring in a specific mine or a specific part of the state in a specific time of year.”

Browning said this type of deep data analysis could help regulators figure out if there are other factors, like the age of a miner, that contribute to the injury rate.

Also Wednesday, the committee looked at how to better financially support West Virginia’s state parks. The state parks will issue up to $80 million of excess lottery revenue bonds this month to help support capital improvements, but still need long-term help.

Legislative analysts released a report on how the park system can reduce its deferred maintenance costs. It offered three main solutions: Increasing appropriations, allowing the state park system to sell property, or creating entrance fees for some state parks.

The evaluations were completed by the research division of the Legislative Auditor.