MSHA announces results of February impact inspections

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that federal inspectors issued 195 citations and 15 orders during special impact inspections conducted at 12 coal mines and five metal and nonmetal mines in February.

Begun in force in April 2010, the monthly inspections involve mines that merit increased agency attention and enforcement due to their poor compliance history or particular compliance concerns. The following are the details of one mine's inspection:

On Feb. 18, MSHA conducted an impact inspection at Buzzi Unicem USA's Lone Star Pryor Plant, Mill & Quarry in Mayes County, Oklahoma. Inspectors issued 14 citations to the mine operator, as well as five citations and one order to contractors working on the mine site. Borton LC, a contractor based in Hutchinson, Kansas, was issued an imminent danger order for using a wooden scaffold as an elevated work platform. The scaffold was not of substantial design and construction and exposed miners to a fall hazard.

The operator was issued a citation for failure to conduct required workplace examinations. Inadequate workplace examinations have contributed to miners' deaths. MSHA has placed a priority on improved workplace examinations — including the identification and correction of hazardous conditions — to protect miners.

Inspectors also issued a citation to the mine operator for unguarded moving machine parts located in the mill which, when exposed to miners, may lead to entanglements.

Since April 2010, MSHA has conducted 896 impact inspections and issued 13,951 citations, 1,244 orders and 56 safeguards.

Editor's Note: MSHA's Monthly Impact Inspection List for February 2015 is available online.