(1) Since this Commonwealth began regular reporting in 1870, over 51,504 miners have died in Pennsylvania's anthracite and bituminous mines, specifically, 31,116 in anthracite mines and 20,388 in bituminous mines.

(2) As a result of mine accidents like the Darr Mine Disaster in Westmoreland County that claimed 239 lives in 1907 and the Knox Mine accident in Luzerne County in 1959, where the Susquehanna River broke through an anthracite mine and killed 12 miners, Pennsylvania adopted some of the first mine safety statutes in the United States, starting in 1869 with a law requiring ventilation in anthracite mines.

(3) The Commonwealth's current mine safety laws, the act of July 17, 1961 (P.L. 659, No. 339),¹ known as the Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal Mine Act, and the act of November 10, 1965 (P.L. 721, No. 346),² known as the Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine Act, establish the framework for ensuring the safety of workers in bituminous, anthracite and other underground industrial mineral mines, but they do not include provisions for caring for the families of miners trapped, injured or awaiting rescue.

(4) The Quecreek Mine accident that occurred in Somerset County during July 2002, where nine miners were rescued after being trapped as water flooded into the mine, provided a model for how to care for the needs of families of miners during a mine emergency.

(5) It is the policy of the Commonwealth to treat the families of miners trapped, injured or awaiting rescue during a mine emergency with the dignity and respect they deserve and to make sure the families are provided updated information on rescue efforts before the public or the media and that their needs and questions are attended to during a mine emergency.