Orderly mines tend to be safe.

Byline: Dan Fitzpatrick

Jan. 8--Mining is a dangerous business, as last week's disaster in West Virginia demonstrated, but the safest underground mines in the United States, the ones with the fewest accidents and injuries, share a similar quality -- they look like a clean, orderly home where everything is in its place.

"Good mines are characterized by good housekeeping," said Dr. Larry Grayson, former superintendent of a 500-person mine in Nemacolin, Pa., Fayette County.

Garbage is picked up promptly, cinder blocks and timber are put away, spare pieces of coal have been cleared away and the walls are covered with a white powder -- ground limestone -- that smothers any build-up of combustible black coal dust and reduces the likelihood of an explosion.

Walking through a clean, safe mine "is almost like walking through fresh snow," said Dr. Grayson, who chairs the mining department at the University of Missouri-Rolla. "You wouldn't even know you are in a coal mine."

A preponderance of limestone powder also is a No. 1 safety indicator for ex-mining engineer Chris Bise, who still recalls a trip he took through a mine 25 years ago that "was not very white."

"I remember thinking to myself, 'This isn't good housekeeping; I think they…