Blast in Centralia Cassandra Loftin Strayer University Professor Richard Ross PAD 500: Public Administration INTRODUCTION The public safety in modern society is dependent upon the proper functioning of administrative systems, and the mine blast at Centralia No. 5 depicts public administration at its worst. The mine blast in Centralia, otherwise called the “Blast in Centralia No. 5”, is an example of when public administration fails and the disastrous effects it can cause. In this particular case, 111 innocent people lost their lives in 1947 because public officials in public administration did not regard the public safety of those people who depended upon them to enforce regulations set in place to protect them.
The saddest part of the Illinois mine disaster is that 111 lives have been altered forever in order for the government to be “politically correct” instead of doing what should have be done without even thinking of their own positions and how it would affect them. Considerations should have been taken into account on how the lives of the miners would be affected forever should an explosion took place. There were many that could have prevented the disaster on March 25, 1947. (Illinois Labor History Society, 2012) Scanlan could have taken a more proactive course of action and taken his reports to even a higher level of officials and government. He could not have let it rest that the mine was not safe.
The first violation was the failure to provide training to employees and their managers about how to recognize and avoid unsafe working conditions. It was proven that Williams did not provide training for trenching hazards to the two employees working in the trench. Furthermore, none of the supervisors or managers for Williams Construction was familiar with OSHA safety requirements. The second violation consisted of Williams providing only one safe means of escape out the east end of the
The workers called the new mill "Fort Frick." Frick’s new ironfisted policies were the last straw for disgruntled workers. After many months of unhappiness with management, workers were in no disposition to deal with Frick. He decided to allocate pay cuts to the workers individually --“Individually” being the key term here, as the workers demanded to remain as a solid union and refused to negotiate wages individually with Frick. On June 28, 1892 Frick, in an attempt to break the union, forced a “Lock-out”.
DeStefano, a group of city firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut claimed that the city discriminated against them in consideration of promotions. This group of firefighters, nineteen of which are white and one Hispanic, all met the requirements of a test for promotions into managerial roles. The city overthrew the test stating that they were worried a lawsuit might happen due to the fact that none of the black firefighters achieved high enough test scores to be considered for a promotion. The twenty firefighters that passed made a claim they had been refused for promotions because of their race. After several hearings and test certifications a decision was reached that the test did not create an adverse impact and were accurate assessments of firefighter’s qualifications as related to the job.
It saddens me today that I have to gather you here with news of this magnitude. Today one of our copper mines collapsed with thirty-three men getting trapped 2,000 feet below ground. At this time we are not sure of the condition of the men, but rest a sure that we are making every attempt into located them and bringing them home to safety. Let me inform you that the mines can be very dangerous and before we start the rescue we want to ensure that they are out of harm’s way. Once we have this information we can begin with the rescue.
Immediate efforts by Major to secure other distribution for its products proved unsuccessful. Further, because Major owned no trucks itself and had no sales organization, it could not distribute the products itself. It also had no market in which to distribute. In less than six months, Major Food Products Inc. had failed, and Aronowicz’s and Duncan’s stock in Major was worthless. Machinery was foreclosed and repossessed.
Abstract John Bartlow Martin discusses the case during March 25, 1947, The Blast in Central No.5: A Mine Disaster No One Stopped. This case history is well known for a coal mine near the town of Centralia, Illinois for its lack of mine safety and health concerns , which resulted in an explosion when an under burdened shot or blown-out shot ignited coal dust which 111 out of 142 men were killed. After the event many pin point whom are to be blamed and find how could have the tragedy been prevented. Driscoll O. Scanlan at the age of 16 a former miner already for thirteen years, was appointed as one of the 16 Illinois’ state mine inspectors by Governor Dwight H. Green for Scanlan’s district. Believing in the Governor Green’s promise to miners in enforcing mining laws, Scanlan’s worked on working over beyond more that all the other appointed inspectors.
I would not launch the attack due to the fact that a numerous amount of innocent civilians will be killed. Although, what the terrorist did claimed the lives of other innocent civilians there has to be another way. You can’t fight fire with fire. If the attack is launched there is a chance that a high ranking official will be killed. This official is from a nation that is abundantly rich in oil.
After the TVA report was released, Triana mayor Clyde Foster, concerned that the local citizens might have been contaminated, requested that residents be checked for signs of DDT in their bodies. The Center for Disease Control, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was sent to test the residents. Initially, twelve inhabitants were tested for DDT in their blood. The results showed that not only was DDT present in their blood, but that the levels were three times the normal levels of DDT found in other case studies. The compared case studies were of workers at DDT plants, yet none of the residents tested in Triana had ever worked at such a facility.