Eagle Scout, medicine man, laborer in the coal mines, salesman, a soft-spoken Michael J. Demchak today reflects on those early days of his life and says he wouldn’t change a moment of it. 

His answer to safety is simplicity.   Just pick up your feet when you’re in the mines, and stay aware, he says.

As he talked quietly and confidently in his office, just outside a storage room of small, safety items, a passer-by noted, “I’m still wearing the boots that Mike sold me umpteen years ago.”  He was proud of that, and so was Mike.  He’s most proud, though, of the padded seats that he developed during the course of his time at R.M. Wilson.  He took your writer to the warehouse where the seats were laid out.  We sat on the padded seats, and it was comfort deluxe as we sank into the padding to the contour of our derrieres. 

People always say that ideas are so simple, followed by a “why didn’t I think of that.”  An idea is only as good as the person who makes it happen.  Mike made it happen.  He saw a need from the personal experience of taking that hard, grueling ride to the mine face on a bumpy, hard-seated mantrip that was sapping his energy.

When the bulb lit, Mike glowed and the padded seat was born.  At 73 years of age, Mike has the ambition and energy of a teenager. He’s an asset to R.M. Wilson, for sure, and to the coal industry for certain.  A man of safety is Mike Demchak.

His name in the industry is like a “Brand Name,” trusted and honored.

There is no such drama as a Batman signal in the sky or a Superman calling-out against criminality, but Coal Safety Man, sans mask and cape, answers the call of the coal industry when that moment of safety arises.  His “arsenal” in the fight against unsafe practices in the coal mines includes every imaginable item from fluorescent leather belts to hardhats of all colors.

In real life Safety Man is Michael Demchak. His forte, strange enough, is a comfortable ride into the mines on seat pads that he developed.  Safety Man saw a need, and he answered the call.

As area sales manager for R.M. Wilson Co., Wheeling, WV, the 73-year-old Mike makes his rounds at area coal mines, providing products that might be considered minimal in the overall safety picture. But to him and to the coal miners whom he serves, his products are big in safety.  His supply includes leather belts of all sizes, fluorescent suspenders, boots, glasses and an assortment of small products that fills the need of the miner inside the mines.  He has every shape, size and color known to man.

If he doesn’t have it, he can get it.

His “big thing” as he says, is seat pads.  “To this very day, this is my big thing.  Still producing seat pads of all sizes and shapes for shuttle cars.” The thought came to him while he was working in the mines back in the mid-70s. “When we’d get on a mantrip we’d be shaking and bumping on hard, metal seats, and by the time we got to the face, we were worn out.  The seat pads we offer absorb the shock and vibration, making the ride more comfortable and less strenuous.”  How does that relate to safety? The miners were alert and rested by the time they reached the face, and more efficient on the job.  That makes for a safe attitude.

When Mike joined R.M. Wilson in 1992 as a salesman, the company was basically a heavy equipment distributor.  However, in his travels, miners kept asking him for smaller products such as belts, suspenders, boots and other items.  This started him on the road to building a product

line that would serve that need.

Still, his attention was focused on the padded seats for shuttle cars and/or mantrips.  He researched different foams and made a choice of a firm product that gave with the contour of the body.  “After I worked out the padding, I had to find some body who could put the pads together.” He found a manufacturer in nearby Martins Ferry, and the project was underway.  “I started making my own forms and engineered my own seats and the manufacturer put it together.”

In the meantime, Mike was being “followed” by the Bureau of Mines.  The bureau was in the process of testing the same idea, and needed Mike’s help to get the seat pads into the coal mines.  “We shared information and worked together from that point on.  We ended up with a pad that was 95% effective against shock and vibration.  A product that is ergonomically correct goes a long way toward safety and adaptability in the mines.”

The seat pads have become so popular in the mines, that all locomotives in the mines, including jeeps and heavy equipment outside the mines, are now using them.

Mike has categorized the pads with assigned parts numbers.  Sales average from 30 to 40 a month, sometimes more, and range from 40 to 60 inches.

Outside Mike’s office at R.M. Wilson is a warehouse of personal mine products that run the gamut of a miner’s needs.  “We don’t manufacture anything here, we’re a distributor. I purchase all the products, and that, of itself, is an art.  For instance, I supply the LaCrosse rubber boots and miners’ tell me it’s like wearing slippers.”  Lined up on the shelves at Mike’s warehouse are hardhats of all colors, including the novice’s “red hat” and the management’s “black hat”.  “We don’t do a lot of custom work, because we have such a variety we pretty much satisfy any special need.”

Mike is a third generation coal miner, who was born in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, where his father worked in the anthracite mines.  He lived at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania the first years of his life, but grew up in the small coal mining community of St. Michael in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.  Young Mike lived a simple, happy life of hunting and fishing with his father.  “I was happy growing up.  We didn’t have things other kids had, but what we had we were well satisfied with. My mother and father provided well for us.” Mike and his sister, Marianne, were always encouraged to study and read.  “My father was a self-educated man, very intelligent.  Our house was always filled with books and literature, so we had access to all kinds of reading.”  Father Michael was a coal miner all of his life with the Berwind White Coal Co. in Cambria County.  His grandfather was an immigrant who came from Slovakia in 1889 and worked as a coal miner.

“My father was a laborer, a hand-loader, but for as long as I can remember he was president of the local union.”

A graduate of Forest Hills High School in 1953, which was Adams Summerhill Joint High School at that time, Mike left the little town of St. Michael for Cleveland, Ohio, where he went to work for Alcoa Aluminum and at the same time, joined the Naval Submarine Reserve.  “I’m not sure why, but I always wanted to be a sailor.”   In 1954 he joined the regular Navy and was a radioman on a submarine.  He was honorably discharged in 1958.

Most of his early educational years were spent in the pursuit of a medical degree, beginning with a semester at Franklin School of Science and Arts as a technologist specializing in x-ray and medical technology.  After years of pursuing a medical profession while at Pittsburgh University, Mike “suddenly” decided he didn’t want to be a doctor, and changed his major to English.  He graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts.

“I was already 27 years old when it started to become more difficult for me and I just didn’t want to spend half my life in college.

“My father always told me that no son of his was ever going into the coal mines.  In those days it was pick-and-shovel work, and he didn’t want that for me.  When I think back, though, if my father would have taken me to the mines when I was young I might have become a mining engineer.”

For the next 11 years after earning his degree, Mike worked at various jobs, starting at U.S. Steel in the metallurgical department, followed by Apeco Corporation and then worked at Warner-Lambert Co. in the General Diagnostics Division, mainly in research and lab work.

In 1975, with wife Millie at his side, Mike finally made his way into the coal mines, taking a job as a laborer, construction worker and shuttle car operator at the North American Coal Corporation.  “I loved laboring.  It was the first time in my life I did real work. I lost 35 pounds and felt like a million bucks.  My main reason for going into the coal mines was to get a taste of what my father did and I came to understand why he didn’t want me to work in the mines.  As it ended up, I thought it was marvelous.  It was a wholly different world and I finally understood what they meant when they said ‘once a coal miner, always a coal miner.’

“I was always safety oriented. When I first went into the mines one of the first persons I worked with was a man who had no more than a fourth grade education, but was a true mining professional.  He taught me the rudiments of mining.  Told me to always keep looking around, don’t drag your feet.  Lift your feet and put them on the ground so that you don’t trip and fall, always be looking.  He taught me how to work safely in the mines.”

In other words, “Mind the Mine.”  “It’s the simple things that a lot of people don’t talk about that keep you safe in the mines.  When talking to somebody just going into the mines, I tell them to listen to your safety director. Do what he tells you, pick up your feet, don’t drag your feet, and learn all about the mine.  Safety is a focus of life.

“I worked in the mines for a short time, but long enough to get a taste of it and learn to appreciate the mining industry.”

Leaving the mines in 1977, Mike joined National Mine Service as a salesman of safety products and was heavily involved in mine rescue volunteer work.  He sold the first Draeger self-rescuer in the U.S. and within three years was elevated to product manager for rubber products and conveyor belting.  During that time, Mike attended mine fires at Newfield, Marianna, Cumberland, Helen, Mathies and Shoemaker.  “We would clean, test and make sure that the B6174A closed circuit breathing apparatus was functional and ready to be used again by the teams involved in fire fighting and recovery work.”

After 15 years at NMS there was a reduction of forces and Mike was involuntarily retired at age 56.  In quick time, R.M. Wilson called and Mike was back at work, a job that he relishes to this day.  “I’m feeling good and doing well.  I love the mining industry and I want to work as long as I’m capable.”  In his spare time, he works around the house and occasionally visits his children and grandchildren in Columbus.

Mike might best be defined by an action he took at age 15.  He sang in a church choir and the group was having a picnic at Lonely Acres recreation area, just north of Johnstown, PA.  While the group was basking on a raft out on the lake, one of the swimmers ventured out too far.  When the swimmer got into deep water, he screamed for help.  Mike immediately jumped in and swam toward the drowning boy.  “Everybody was frantic.  I didn’t know anything about life saving, and when I finally got to him, we grappled and we both went under.  I had remembered somebody telling me that if you remain still in a situation like this, he will let go.  And he did.  When we came up I grabbed him and swam toward the raft. I didn’t think we’d ever get back to the raft, but we made it.”

Later, Mike’s Scoutmaster was told about the incident and he was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to a Boy Scout.

Mike’s whole life has been focused on the Boy Scout code.  “There are many things I learned as a scout that I carry with me to this day. It’s a package of good things that makes you a better person.  “

 

Mike made it all the way to the top as a Boy Scout, becoming an Eagle Scout, the highest honor.

Safety is always a top priority for Mike, who reminds, “We need to know the rules of the road.  One of the best tools for safety in the coal mines is a pre-shift safety lecture.  A 10 to 15 minute safety lecture before entering the mine creates awareness and sparks an understanding of what to watch for.  You don’t have to be a hell-raiser, just do the right thing.  If you see something is wrong do something about it.”

Mike stresses:  Safety is an awareness of the Simple Things.  Keep with that theory and all will be good.  Safety Man always answers the call for safety!  He has the products to back up his safety crusade.