The omissions were uncovered during a federal audit of Coal River Mining’s Fork Creek No. 1 operation in Lincoln County, West Virginia, the agency confirmed Monday.
Specifically, inspectors cited 158 significant and substantial (S&S) violations at the mine between September 1, 2012, and August 31, 2013. The total included 14 roof-and-rib hazards, 21 ventilation hazards and 21 explosion hazards.
“The mine’s S&S issuance rate was 8.83 per 100 inspection hours during the review period, compared to a rate of 3.62 for all underground coal mines during the same period,” MSHA noted.
“During the review period, the mine ranked fifth in the nation (tying with one other operation) in elevated citations and withdrawal orders with 24 issuances.”
Fork Creek is the fourth mine to be issued a POV notice under new MSHA revised rules made final in March.
On October 24, 2013, MSHA issued the first three POV notices to Tram Energy’s No. 1 mine in Floyd County, Kentucky, Brody Mining’s Brody Mine No. 1 in Boone County, West Virginia, and Pocahontas Coal’s Affinity operation in Raleigh County, West Virginia.
Fork Creek No. 1 was undergoing an audit of its injury records at the same time as several other operations, officials said.
“While it took an MSHA audit to discover the extent of unreported injuries at the mine, Coal River was also aware of the compliance issues it was experiencing and did not take sufficient action to make necessary safety improvements,” assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health Joseph Main said.
MSHA’s overall POV review included all of the nation’s 14,600 mines, but MSHA noted last month that it was still reviewing injury records for some mines to determine if more should be added to its POV list and receive notification. It did not identify any of those operations at the time.
New federal rules for POV notices eliminated MSHA’s requirement to consider only fully adjudicated orders in its reviews and shifted the responsibility for monitoring compliance to the mine operator.
MSHA also now requires operators to submit corrective action programs to address POV-potential issues proactively.
“MSHA’s new POV rule, which we will vigorously enforce, enhances protections for miners and shifts the responsibility for monitoring compliance and taking action to prevent POV enforcement actions to the operator,” Main said in October.
“The decrease in the number of operators meeting the POV criteria shows that the POV process is working–many operators are cleaning up their acts, even when MSHA is not looking over their shoulders.”
Under the Mine Act, MSHA is authorized to issue a POV notice to mine operators that demonstrate a disregard for the health and safety of miners through a pattern of significant and substantial violations.
POV notices are reserved for mines posing the greatest risk to miner safety.
Moreover, the Mine Act requires mines that receive POV notices to be issued withdrawal orders – effectively ceasing operations – for all S&S violations.
Officials said that no mines were placed on POV for the first 33 years the mandates were in effect.
The latest POV notices mark the third year in a row that MSHA has used the enforcement tool.
The POV to Fork Creek completes MSHA’s current round of POV notifications.
