ABSTRACT
On May 9, 1992, the Westray mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada, blew up, killing 26 miners working at the time. The chapter describes the story in the words of many of the key players, primarily through their inquiry testimony and interviews conducted by a number of researchers subsequent to the Westray mine explosion. At the time of the Westray explosion, a methane reading of 2.5% required the removal of all workers from the site, while a reading of 1.25% mandated the shutdown of electricity that could spark an explosion. At the time the Westray mine exploded, the regulation of coal mining in Nova Scotia fell primarily under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, a 160-page piece of legislation considered 30 years out of date. The Commission of Inquiry heard 71 witnesses in 76 days of testimony and produced 16,815 pages of transcripts; it entered 1,579 exhibits into evidence after examining 800 boxes of documents.
