Legislation approved by a committee of the state Senate would continue a recent surge in efforts to improve safety for those who work in Kentucky's coal mines.

A miner who suffered severe burns last year in an accident spurred the effort to make it easier for medical helicopters to find injured workers - not always an easy task in mountainous areas of eastern Kentucky.

The legislation will require coal companies to post their GPS coordinates at mine sites and to provide them to emergency dispatching centers.

State Sen. Ray Jones II, D-Pikeville, said the measure, if passed, would save lives by helping to get injured miners to hospitals quicker.

"The whole purpose of this is to make sure that if there's an accident and someone is injured, that valuable time isn't wasted trying to describe the directions to the helicopter flight service," Jones said in an Associated Press report.

It's good to see legislators are taking mine safety seriously, but it's unfortunate that it usually takes a tragedy or near-tragedy to spark interest in making improvements.

Mining is a dangerous occupation, even when every precaution is taken. That fact, which is no secret to the many Harlan County families who have dealt with tragedies due to mining accidents, makes following through on every potential safety improvement a necessity.