Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) is in the DNA of each UCC employee. To assure UCC continues to be a top tier performer in HSE, the company has incorporated the “Safe Work Place Program” and “Area Management Program” which involves all employees.
The programs require start of shift checks and examinations for the purpose of finding and correcting safety and operating issues. In addition, UCC is committed to quality training for all employees and has provided detailed management training to all levels. UCC has also developed and employed an aggressive and detailed “Red Hat Program,” which will serve as a guide in the development of a new generation of coal miners to support the future expansion of the UCC business.
At United Coal Company, we take our commitment to environmental responsibility very seriously. Not only are we regulated by State and Federal environmental laws, but it is our moral and ethical responsibility to be a good steward of the environment.
The State and Federal laws concerning mining and the environment are constantly changing. They are generally designed to accomplish several key goals:
- Protect the water resources in and near mines
- Protect the air quality
- Protect the wildlife and critical wildlife habitats
- Return all disturbed land to at least an equal land use and productivity as compared to the pre-mining condition
- Protect the residents, homes and public property surrounding the mines
UCC strives to hold itself to higher environmental standards than those required by law and we must strive to improve the environment of the communities where we operate.
UCC has implemented several programs to ensure that our environmental policies and goals are being met:
- Each subsidiary has a full time staff of environmental engineering professionals who supervise the preparation of permits, work with production personnel to ensure that all environmental protections are in place and monitor the quality of the air and water in and around our operations.
- Each subsidiary completes a monthly internal audit of active operations to determine if we are in compliance with all regulations and terms of our permits.
- A quarterly environmental audit of each operation is conducted by managers throughout the company who can look at our operations with a fresh set of eyes and bring in new ideas to help meet the highest environmental standards at the most efficient cost.
- The environmental managers at each subsidiary conduct environmental training at all the operations to give the knowledge to our employees on how they can help protect the environment at their workplace.
- Accountability for environmental protection and compliance is being assigned to local managers under our Area Management Program to ensure that our environmental goals are met.