Safety Agency Never Assessed Thousands of Fines—Including Mine Where Worker Died

by Mike Hall, Jan 28, 2008

Since 2000, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has failed to issue more than 4,000 fines for violations of mine safety laws—including a mine where a Kentucky coal miner died in 2005.

According to a report published yesterday in the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, MSHA inspectors had issued citations for safety violations in all the cases, but the fines were never assessed within 18 months of the citations. The 18-month time limit was spelled out in a 1999 MSHA policy memo.

Agency officials acknowledged the failure to assess the fines. Richard Stickler, acting head of the agency, told the paper:

There is no doubt that there is a problem. Any violation that we write and don’t asses a penalty for, that’s a big problem.

But Stickler and other MSHA officials offered no explanation how so many fines—according to MSHA’s own figures—could slip through the cracks. Between 1996 and 2000, the agency reports that about 400 penalties had never been assessed.

Apparently, the missing fines would have remained uncovered if it hadn’t been for a recent series of articles in the Louisville Courier-Journal exploring the lack of state action in the Dec. 30, 2005, death of miner Bud Morris at a mine in Harlan County, Ky.

An MSHA investigation into Morris’ death found the company’s failure to ensure that the section foreman was properly trained to provide first aid—as required by federal mine safety laws—contributed to the death. Morris bleed to death after his legs were nearly severed when he was hit by a shuttle car. The citation carried a maximum fine of $60,000.

The Gazette reports that the articles about the lack of action by Kentucky’s mine safety officials led MSHA to revisit its actions in the case, discovering no fine was ever assessed:

And that led MSHA to investigate how many other citations had gone without any fines.

On Jan. 19 this year, MSHA assessed a $60,000 fine against the coal company. 

MSHA officials say the unlevied fines represent about 1 percent of the citations written by safety inspectors, and they are reviewing records to see if other penalties have not been assessed.

The failure to assess penalties for safety violations is the latest in a series of MSHA missteps and controversy since the Bush administration took the reins of the safety agency in 2001.

MSHA has missed deadlines for writing new mine safety rules approved by Congress and has been forced to ask for volunteers from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop the new rules. In January, President Bush, who twice failed to win Senate confirmation for Stickler, a former coal company executive, appointed him “acting” MSHA director after a recess appointment used by Bush to first circumvent Congress expired. In November, it was revealed that MSHA had failed to conduct mandatory safety inspections at 107 of the nation’s 731 underground coal mines in 2006.

Also this month, Bush threatened to veto new mine safety legislation passed by the House to build on the 2006 MINER Act that passed in the aftermath of the Sago, Aracoma and Darby coal mine disasters. Forty-seven coal miners were killed on the job in 2006, more than in any year since 1996. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The legislation is aimed at preventing mine disasters, improving emergency response and reducing long-term health risks such as black lung.

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