He was caught in the middle of both blasts. My other experiences with the dangers of mining included poor ventilation when operating loaders, dusty conditions, mud on our clothing and body, taking chances and shortcuts. In the mornings, after waking up from a shift, I always remember coughing up the phlegm and seeing it black as the result of all I breathed in the night before. Although we had leadmen and formen come to our areas to check on us, we always knew they were coming because of the mine lamps headed towards our area. As soon as they would leave we would go back to our dangerous ways.
Money is the answer.
The more work we produced the more we got paid, whether it was safe or not. When we had safety inspections, somehow we always knew in advance when the inspectors were coming on a certain day, giving us enough time to straighten up our area. Then we would remove when they left and work in that section again. When we had safety meetings we were never given information on the dangers of radiation, there was only concern of equipment hazards. Most of us workers would go to the bars and cash our checks there and spend the money on alcohol.