CHARLESTON — Hiring five more inspectors could “significantly” improve safety at coal work sites in West Virginia, a legislative panel was told Thursday.

Mine Health, Safety and Training Director Ron Wooten told the Senate Finance Committee three of the hires would cover underground mines, one would inspect surface operations and one would deal specifically with electrical issues.

In his State of the State message, Gov. Joe Manchin asked lawmakers to approve the additional inspectors in his ongoing safety mission, inspired by tragedies at Sago and Aracoma in 2006.

At the same time, Wooten suggested a slow approach in tackling a new jurisdiction that has fallen into his lap — river loadouts.

This came about in an attorney general’s opinion that held Wooten’s agency is responsible if a barge is moored to the surface facility of a mine.

Wooten said he learned that the U.S. Coast Guard has no jurisdiction on barges moored at coal installations.

A recent fatality at the McElroy loadout in northern West Virginia along the Ohio River focused attention on this new arena for Wooten.

There are 21 such facilities in the state, and Wooten advised the committee he is plowing into the regulations to see just where his staff must go.

One place off limits are the barges, and Wooten was emphatic on that point.

“They’re coal miners,” he said afterward. “They’re not rivermen. They’re not going on the barges. They’ll go out to the riverload facility, which would be the tipple.”

The idea is to make sure workers are wearing lifejackets and look for any signs of “imminent dangers.”

“That’s the only thing I’m allowing them to do until I’m convinced we’ve trained them to the point that we’re comfortable,” Wooten said.

“I’ve been on those barges. It’s not the most comfortable feeling.”

Putting five new inspectors on the payroll calls for a $348,600 increase in his agency’s budget.

Within the past year, some 144 new mine permits were issued and some are producing, mostly surface mines, he noted.

Since September, however, the state has lost approximately 1,000 jobs in the industry.

“A year ago, they couldn’t get enough of that coal,” Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said, referring to the recent cutbacks at the Pinnacle mine complex in Wyoming County.

Wooten told Sen. Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier, that a prospective inspector must pass some stiff exams.

“West Virginia has the most stringent regulations in the country,” he said.

An underground inspector earns about $53,000 while those assigned to strip jobs are paid some $49,000 and electrical inspectors earn $56,000.

For now, Wooten has 52 underground inspectors, 14 electrical ones and 23 surface inspectors.

All inspections are executed as surprise, unannounced visits, he said.

“They may guess we’re coming, but the law precludes us from giving any advanced notification of an inspection,” he said.

Afterward, he told reporters his agency has encountered difficulties in making the required inspections — four annually in deep mines and two at surface operations.

With five more inspectors, overtime can be reduced.

Yet, the turnover rate — pegged at 20 percent — is a fact of life in many state agencies, and Wooten’s apparently is no exception.

“We know when business is good, as it has been, we’ll have that,” he said.

“I don’t believe, frankly, we’ll ever be in a position to compete on an economic basis, salary-wise, with industry or with the federal agency.”

Yet, he alluded to an intangible — the dedication of employees.

“West Virginians are the ones who mine West Virginia coal and our inspectors are West Virginians,” he said.

“And they look after West Virginians.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com