In mining accidents, second counts. That’s why state and federal rules now require coal operators to immediately alert state officials of any major accident. But some mine rescuers and coal operators say that law may be putting more miners at risk.

Dave Crawford knows how dangerous underground mining can be.

A 25-year veteran of mines, he’s been trapped by roof falls and surrounded by smoke.

“In a smoke situation, you can turn around and you are lost,” the Boone County miner said.

Finding trapped miners is the job of America’s mine rescue teams. And elected leaders like Gov. Joe Manchin hope new rules requiring mine companies to report accidents within 15 minutes will help rescue teams do their jobs. If companies don’t comply, theu will be fined $100,000.

“You know, the last couple accidents, God forbid, that we just had, we were called very quickly.” Manchin said.

But will that law improve mine safety, or will it create more confusion?

Bill Raney with the West Virginia Coal Association believes it will take some time for the system to work itself out.

“There is an anticipation that there is going to be some confusion regarding that,” he said. “There’s likely going to be a lot of reaction to what may likely be false alarms.”

Some mine rescuers said companies are so worried about the fines and negative publicity that they’ll call rescue teams even before they know what’s going on.

While no other emergency calls were made during those false alarms, some rescuers worry about the day they won’t be able to respond to an accident because they are busy elsewhere.

Crawford said the one thing people don’t realize is when rescue teams are called to a mine, they have to search every entry and tunnel in the mine.

“Coal mining is different. Everyone thinks you have one big tunnel. No. You have a maze of tunnels,” he said.

And it’s only after those tunnels are checked and the miners are out safely that the job of a rescue team is over.