US Labor Department’s order involving mine operator’s failure to timely notify of roof collapse upheld
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that its order charging Pine Ridge Coal Co. LLC of Seth, W.Va., with committing an unwarrantable failure to comply with the law has been upheld by Administrative Law Judge Thomas McCarthy. The order stemmed from the operator's violation of 30 C.F.R. § 50.10, which requires mine operators to notify MSHA of any reportable roof falls without delay – but within no more than 15 minutes – once the operator knows or should know that a reportable accident has occurred. Pine Ridge waited four days to notify MSHA of the roof collapse that took place at the Big Mountain Number 16 mine located in Boone County, W.Va., and notified MSHA only after the fall was discovered by an MSHA inspector and the violation cited. McCarthy found that the operator's delay was unreasonable and resulted from reckless disregard for its obligations under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The...