MSHA is expected to issue a safety hazard alert on plate filter presses following the death last month of an engineer who was killed when a hydraulic cylinder used on a press catastrophically failed.

Brandon E. Townsend, 34, died Feb. 6 of blunt force trauma at Midland Trail Energy’s Five Mile Prep Pit and Refuse Impoundment in Kanawha County, WV.  At the time of the accident, Townsend was troubleshooting the operation of the filter press, which de-waters coal fines produced when coal is cleaned.  Read more »

A former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch-South (UBB) Mine has begun a 21-month sentence for his role in the West Virginia coal mine tragedy.

Gary May, 44, of Bloomingrose pleaded guilty last year to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by covering up safety problems at the Raleigh County mine, where 29 miners died in a massive explosion.  He admitted to ordering an electrician to disable a methane monitor on a continuous mining machine and to ordering a miner to falsify mine examination records.

NIOSH has released a document that outlines a new perimeter blast design concept for underground Metal/Non-Metal (M/NM) mines.

Drilling and blasting is an economical way to construct drifts, but blasting causes damage to the perimeter of the opening that could increase ground control risks for underground M/NM miners.  According to the Institute, the lack of a controlled blast design is one of two main causes of perimeter damage, the other being the absence of precision drilling.  Read more »

Continuing deaths among coal miners risk eroding public support for the sector at a time when challenges exist to its survival, a coal executive told attendees at a mining symposium in West Virginia.

Relatives of two workers killed in a shooting rampage that claimed three lives at a California cement plant in 2011 have sued the victims’ employer.

Shareef Allman opened fire on some 15 supervisors and co-workers during a pre-dawn weekly safety meeting at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Co.’s Permanente Plant in Cupertino on Oct. 5, 2011. 

MSHA has announced a number of personnel changes in its Coal Division.

District 4 Manager Charlie Carpenter has retired.  Lincoln Selfe has taken over on an acting basis.  In the same district, Raymond Browning was named as supervisor of the ventilation group in the Mt. Hope, WV office.  He had been a ventilation specialist there.  District 4 covers 13 counties in Southern West Virginia.

A former associate of the ex-CEO of Massey Energy Co. pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit and cover-up safety violations at company mines in West Virginia.

David Craig Hughart, 54, of Crab Orchard pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the federal government’s oversight of mining by providing advance notice of inspectors’ presence on mine property.  He also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of conspiracy to violate mine safety laws.  He is cooperating with authorities.

MSHA’s has revised its web-based pattern of violation (POV) monitoring tool to incorporate a crucial change included in the agency’s final POV rule.

Two sets of criteria presented in the monitoring tool are identical to those the agency applied before its final rule was promulgated last month with one critical exception.  It is that the criteria 2 sub-set adds issued citations and orders so that they along with final orders of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission now will be considered in making POV determinations.

The family of a man killed at his place of work by a fired employee has sued his employer for botching the shooter’s dismissal.

Joseph Beneke, 34, died along with four other people and the assailant in a shooting incident last September at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis.  News reports soon after the shooting identified Beneke by a different first name, Jacob.