Reading about miner's strikes, I keep coming across "safety

I'm gonna guess it has something to do with hazard pay or maybe even a form of life insurance (safety "cover")

>>2187778
I doubt that's it, here's the quote from a book I'm reading
>From the first day, all 289 pits were closed and the strikers
at many of them, against the instructions of the NUM, refused to provide safety
cover.
If it's the workers refusing to do it, even against union orders, it can't be that.
Some blog post:
>The dispute over safety cover was tense. Media reports were clearly biased and I had great difficulty getting any adult to explain it to me as they did not want to “indoctrinate” me. I could tell the adults in my family were very frustrated about it though. Eventually the NACODS leadership reached an agreement with the NCB to provide safety cover. This was the height of naivety on their part.
>There was a stand-off about safety cover in the pits which I was at my wits end trying to follow because the media were biased, but adults in my community wouldn’t explain it to me

>>2187789
Safety cover is like life insurance for the miners

There's a better answer on google

>>2187806
again, another quote, this time libcom
>On the 2nd night, Gormley appeared on TV to appeal to miners to provide safety cover. Safety cover had always constituted a serious threat to the physical structure of the pits due to the risk of fire, flooding or roof falls.
It's got to be something providing safety to the mine shafts, not the miners

>>2187827
or, now that i'm re-reading it, something that DEPRIVES mine shafts of safety, somehow

>Men faced disciplinary action from the Union, picketing at sites where men had broken the strike was increased, and safety cover at those pits was withdrawn. An action that risked damage to the pits.

Well, OP here, found it after all. Providing safety cover means manning the water pumps (so the mine doesn't flood) and making sure to extinguish any pump fires that may arise. This is done by regular miners, in lieu of the usual digging or other shifts.