By Doug Cunningham

The United Mine Workers of America's Administrator of Occupational Health and Safety told Workers Independent News from Capitol Hill that Congress seems genuinely receptive to beefing up mine safety. Dennis O'Dell says the biggest problem is making safety a priority over profits.

[Dennis O'Dell] : "There's this mindset out there that if it's not economically feasible to do something then it doesn't get done. And I think that's our biggest hurdle is to make people understand - look, you can't put a price on a person's life. And you have to realize that production doesn't come first and safety does."