In the wake of the death of at least 25 West Virginia coal miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, and with the news that this mine has been cited more than 3,000 times for safety violations, a 2003 quote from Massey CEO Don Blankenship deserves some attention:
At the time, when asked about how it was that Massey had chalked up more safety violations in two years than its three biggest rivals, Blankenship said Massey was unfairly targeted by regulators and that,"We don't pay much attention to the violation count."
And apparently Mr. Blankenship didn't bother to pay attention to the violations either.