Raising the fines for mine safety violations

After 26 miner deaths already this year (one less than the total of 27 deaths for all of last year), the federal Mine Safety Health Administration says it will increase fines in an effort to curb safety violations.

David Dye, the acting MSHA administrator says the current penalty structure “needs updating to strengthen incentives for compliance,” but the MSHA hasn’t reported how it will be done.

Meanwhile, President Bush asked Congress to raise the minimum penalty for safety violations to $220,000 and West Virginia lawmakers have introduced bills asking for a higher penalty structure.

Currently, safety violation fines for mine operators are notoriously low. The Sago, WV mine, where 12 miners died after a Jan. 2 explosion, was fined a total of $24,155 last year for 208 violations. The average citation was for $156.

The current penalty structure operates on a point system, with each safety violation receiving points. One hundred points merits a fine of $60,000, but 50 points results in a fine of just $878. Labor Department regulations also require mining fines to be cut by 30 percent if violations are quickly abated.
Raising the maximum fine to $220,000 would help persuade mine operators to focus on safety, but $220,000 represents “less than one day’s coal production at a small mine,” according to Tony Oppegard, the former chief prosecutor for Kentucky mines. A more effective penalty would be to close the mines, something MSHA can do by levying “pattern” violations, which permit it to close mines for 90 days for safety hazards. While the Sago mine received 18 “significant and substantial” violations in the fourth quarter of 2005, it never received a pattern violation. “MSHA is making this standard for use of 'pattern of violations' so high that it will never be used," said Mr. Oppegard.