Enforcement and Regulatory Changes Making a Difference, MSHA Chief Asserts

In a speech reminiscent of the President’s annual state of the union address to Congress, MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main outlined the “current state of mine safety and health” in a talk last week to a coal audience in West Virginia.

Main’s remarks focused on the changes he has brought to MSHA during his 27-month tenure at the helm of the mine safety agency, linking them to an improved safety record and better compliance throughout in the mining industry. 

A lawyer who represented a former Massey Energy Co. security director convicted of lying to federal authorities said that, in the wake of the Upper Big Branch-South (UBB) Mine tragedy, more criminal prosecutions of mining officials are likely.

"You're going to see an increase in criminal prosecutions. That's just one more arrow in the quiver," former U.S. Attorney Bill Wilmoth said, as reported by the Charleston Gazette.  Wilmoth’s remarks came Wednesday during a presentation at the West Virginia Coal Symposium in Charleston.

MSHA rolled out the third phase of its Rules to Live By (RTLB III) fatality and catastrophe prevention program with 14 new standards that will be subject to increased Agency scrutiny and enforcement.

In a media briefing following a meeting with stakeholders today, Assistant Secretary Joe Main said the emphasis in this phase is on accidents and deaths at surface mines, with seven of the eight new Coal standards under RTLB enforced at surface operations and four of the six at Metal/Non-Metal (M/NM) surface mines.

A former West Virginia mine foreman is suing Patriot Coal Corp. and personnel at the Federal No. 2 Mine where he worked, claiming he was pressured into falsifying safety data.

A federal judge has granted the Labor Department’s (DOL's) request for an injunction to stop the operators of a Vermont slate milling operation from interfering with MSHA inspectors.

The Part 46 training rule has been around for more than a decade, but some MSHA inspectors still don’t get it.  An inspector recently groused to plant management because he didn’t think first aid training should be a part of Part 46 refresher training. 

Like a lawyer who hedges her bets, the inspector then took the position that if it was allowed, the instruction had to be done under the auspices of a recognized provider such as the American Red Cross.  And the miners needed to carry certification cards.  

MSHA has posted a hazard alert to call attention to injuries that have occurred in 2010 that involve machinery.  A total of 200 dfpersons were injured working around machinery, representing 12 percent of all injuries in the aggregates sector that year, according to the  Read more »

Hazardous Content Unproven

A judge vacated a citation for an alleged violation of 47.41(a), which requires that containers of hazardous chemicals be labeled to identify their contents.  The ticket involved an unlabeled one-gallon container in a welding storage trailer.  The fine came to $308.  After the inspector admitted he had no idea what was in the container, the judge ruled MSHA had not met its burden of proving the substance was hazardous (Sr. ALJ Zielinski, MSHA v. Cemex Construction Materials of Florida, LLC, Jan 9).

MSHA shut down a Kentucky coal mine after discovering a fire and other alleged hazards during an impact inspection on the night shift in December. 

The operation was one of 13 mines – 10 coal, two metal and an aggregate site ? targeted for the special emphasis enforcement program during the month.  A total of 321 citations and orders were issued: 174 citations and 19 orders at the coal mines and 112 citations and 16 orders at the metal/non-metal operations.