Only 30 of the 160 mines managed by the Coal Ministry of Ukraine meet industrial safety standards, Oleh Rumezhak, the deputy board chairman of the State Committee of Ukraine on Industrial Safety, Labour Protection and Mountain Supervision, has said.
Over the last ten years, the number of injuries suffered at mines
has almost tripled. Over the first eight months of 2009, 112 miners
died in Ukraine’s mines, he said at a press conference within a seminar
dedicated to the problems of safety at coal enterprises in Donetsk
One of the main issues of the overall program on coal industry
safety is the improvement of labor safety. Specialists are to analyze
the current safety situation, work out recommendations on improving the
system of safety management, and develop and realize pilot projects.
The program is financed by the European Union.
“The European Union has allocated EUR 8.9 million for the project,” Rumezhak said.
According to Rumezhak, since the start of 2009 committee inspectors
have uncovered about 360 safety violations at coal enterprises.
