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100 • ROCK products • May 2015 www.rockproducts.com FOCUS ON HEALTH & SAFETY mation from on-site personnel regard- ing the roof fall or Stewart's injuries. The safety director said he was waiting for a medical opinion because he was hoping for a level of certainty in terms of the miner's prognosis. "Whether the incident was immedi- ately reportable was not a close call ... a reasonable person would have con- cluded that [the miner's] injuries posed a reasonable potential for death based on the available information," the Com- mission said. The company tried to argue the viola- tion was not S&S;, as charged by MSHA, since failure to report did not contrib- ute to a hazard as required under the S&S; test. The company also noted that MSHA's involvement was not necessary to remedy the miner's injuries, nor was any mine rescue necessary. However, the Commission said while no immediate rescue efforts were needed, §50.10 also requires MSHA to investi- gate the cause of the accident in order to prevent similar accidents. Failure to immediately report in this case created a hazard, since miners were exposed to a continuing danger. Several Factors There were several factors that con- vinced the Commission that the viola- tion was due to reckless disregard. The company knew it should have reported the accident and failed to do so. The safety manager was "evasive" with the MSHA inspector on the phone when MSHA made the first phone call after finding out about the accident from the reporter, and testimony indicated that the inspector had to "pry" the informa- tion out of the company. The company failed to take any steps to investigate the accident, and its con- cern was to keep-up production, which altered the scene of the accident. Lastly, the company did not report the acci- dent on the 7000-1 form until after the call from the MSHA inspector. While agreeing with the ALJ on the violation, the Commission said the ALJ over-stepped his authority when he imposed a fine of $74,250 – up from MSHA's proposed fine of $49,500. While an ALJ has the discretion to increase a penalty, the judge may not increase the penalty more than the stat- utory maximum for a non-flagrant vio- lation. Even though the ALJ called the violations "egregious failures," and he explained his reasons for increasing the penalties, he could not assess a penalty more than $60,000. However, the ALJ's $9,500 fine for the violation for altering the accident scene was affirmed. This was a 400 percent increase from MSHA's proposed penal- ty of $1,900. SIGNAL PEAK ENERGY LLC., 3/4/2015, FMSHRC No. WEST 2010-1130; 22 MSHN D-475. The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that federal inspectors issued 188 citations and two orders as a result of special impact inspections conducted at 13 coal mines and seven metal and nonmetal mines in March. Begun in force in April 2010, the monthly inspections involve mines that merit increased agency attention and enforcement due to their poor compli- ance history or particular compliance concerns. The following are the details of one mine's inspection: MSHA began an impact inspection on March 16 at Georgia Stone Industries, Inc.'s Chelmsford Quarry in Middlesex County, Mass. MSHA inspectors issued 21 citations and one order to the mine operator. A 104(g)(1) withdrawal order was issued for failure to adequately train three miners who were conducting workplace examinations. The serious hazards that were not identified or corrected as a result of the workplace examination failures included dam- aged ladders that were in use, openings in travelways that were not covered or otherwise protected, elevated work platforms without railings, and several exposed electrical conductors. Since April 2010, MSHA has conduct- ed 916 impact inspections and issued 14,139 citations, 1,246 orders and 56 safeguards. M S H A a l s o i s s u e d a r e p o r t o n first-quarter fatalities. In metal and nonmetal mining, two miners were killed in machinery accidents. A 57-year-old miner was operating an excavator near a ditch when the exca- vator tipped on its side and went in the water. The miner was removed from the cab and transported to a hospital, where he died. A 48-year-old miner was operating a walk-behind masonry saw, positioned between the saw and a ledge, when he tripped and fell. The victim and the saw went over the 4-½ ft. ledge, and the saw fell on him. A 63-year-old contractor was severely injured while installing new screen pan- els in the B tower screen. The feeder box pivoted, pinning him between the box and the rear support beam of the screen deck. The victim was transported to a hospital where he died. A 44-year-old truck driver was operat- ing a loaded articulated haul truck on an elevated haul road adjacent to a dredge pond. After traveling about 125 yd. from the loading point, the haul truck drifted into the water. The victim was removed from the truck, transported to a hospi- tal, then transferred to a trauma center where he died two days later. A 53-year-old miner was on a work plat- form on top of a skip traveling up the ventilation shaft when he struck a cross member in the shaft. A 54-year-old miner was operating a mechanical scaler in an intersection when a roof fall occurred and covered the machine. MSHA Reports March Impact Inspections, Q1 Fatalities