As mentioned in this column in April, what is shaping up to be a record-setting year for the rock products industry-mild weather in many areas, increased federal spending on highway construction and greater merger and acquisition activity-could create some record production challenges. But don't forget the overriding challenge resulting from all three of these events-maintaining safe operations.

You can be sure that the Mine Safety and Health Administration is looking for lapses in the industry's safety vigilance. Davitt McAteer, assistant labor secretary for mine safety and health, has seized on this issue to push for the end of the agency's prohibition on enforcing Part 48 safety-training regulations at crushed stone, sand and gravel operations (see page 17).

>From industry conferences to the trade press to The Wall Street Journal, McAteer is sounding the alarm that record demand for aggregate could lead to a greater number of fatalities. "While accelerated production can raise employee income and improve economic conditions in the local community," he said in a recent press release, "mine operators need to guard against longer hours that may lead to employee fatigue, reduced attention spans, lost-time or disabling injuries and possibly even accidental death."

Increased production also means increased employment, and too many new workers are poorly trained, McAteer said, which makes them more vulnerable to accidents and injury.

Part 48 training requirements may be deemed inappropriate-and as a result ineffective-for the aggregates industry; however, McAteer's warnings about the potential for increased accidents, injuries and fatalities as production demands increase should not be ignored. It stands to reason that the more hours worked and the greater the number of inexperienced employees on the job, the greater the risk of an accident.

A precedent for alarm A recent report by the Federal Railroad Administration identified several conditions that led to an alarming increase in accidents and injuries on the Union Pacific Railroad following its merger with Southern Pacific:

* a corporate culture in the merged company that had varying attitudes toward safety and a primary focus on improving operational efficiency instead of safety;

* staffing that was inadequate at various locations and was exacerbated by an insufficient crew-management system;

* unsafe practices by supervisors and others that were directly attributable to a lack of training and extreme work overload;

* harassment and intimidation of employees by managers when work was delayed in order to comply with safety regulations;

* an incorrectly implemented drug and alcohol program; and

* improper maintenance and inspection of equipment that resulted in a high rate of defects.

The aggregates industry is different in many respects from the railroad industry. However, crushed stone, sand, gravel and industrial mineral operations are just as vulnerable to these six safety-compromising conditions.

Federal enforcement of training regulations that are not relevant to the aggregates industry might save some lives; but it likely would divert time and resources that could be used more effectively to save many lives. The challenge for the rock products industry is to prove that in the face of record demand, it can attain record safety.