Rep. Miller Praises Mine Safety Proposal

The Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today announced proposed rule changes to its ‘pattern of violations’ (POV) sanctions. If enacted, the new rule would provide the agency another enforcement tool to use at mines with a history of violating safety and health standards.

In the year prior to the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners, Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine was cited 515 times and ordered to shut down operations on 52 separate occasions—an average of once per week.  However, because of shortcomings in the law, mine operators have an incentive to appeal citations in order to avoid tougher scrutiny, such as the ‘pattern of violations’ sanction.  

George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and author of the Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act, praised the announcement:

Today’s proposal from MSHA is a significant step in the right direction to hold chronic violators accountable for repeatedly putting miners’ lives at risk. As we have seen with Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine tragedy, loopholes have allowed some of our nation’s most dangerous mines to escape tougher sanctions that would force them to comply with safety standards or be shut down. 

Though the POV penalties have been on the books for 33 years, not one mine has ever been sanctioned under the statue, according to Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine and safety health.  The new rule would, among other things, establish more specific criteria for meeting a POV, stricter oversight of suspected and confirmed violators, and greater transparency in compliance data.