Summary
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the Department of Labor's Office of the Solicitor, the states, and the mining industry share responsibility for ensuring mine safety. GAO examined the challenges underground coal mines face in preparing for emergencies, how well MSHA oversees mine operators' training efforts, how well MSHA and NIOSH coordinate to enhance the development and approval of mine safety technology, and how civil penalties are assessed. To address these issues, GAO surveyed a representative sample of active underground coal mines, analyzed agency data, conducted site visits, and talked with agency officials and other experts. The survey results are estimated at the 95 percent confidence level.
Underground coal mine operators face significant challenges preparing for emergencies, including ensuring that miners receive realistic training and organizing mine rescue teams that satisfy new requirements. While mine operators recognize the importance of providing training in an environment that simulates an emergency, many of them are challenged by having limited access to special training facilities and meeting the cost of providing such training. MSHA has materials for providing specific hands-on training for mine emergencies, but it does not provide all mine operators with information and tools for training under simulated emergency conditions. In addition to the challenges of providing miners with realistic training, mine operators anticipated challenges in implementing the mine rescue team requirements in recent legislation, such as meeting the requirement to conduct training annually at each mine covered by a mine rescue team. MSHA approves mine operators' training plans and inspects their training records, but its oversight of miner training is hampered by several factors. MSHA has general guidelines for items to be considered when approving new instructors, but its standards are inconsistent, and it has no continuing education requirements for instructors. MSHA also does not have current information on its instructors and does not ensure that they keep their knowledge and skills up to date. In addition, MSHA does not adequately monitor instructors or evaluate training sessions, and does not assess how well miners are learning the skills being taught. MSHA and NIOSH have a common mission to improve the safety and health of coal miners, but do not have a current memorandum of understanding to guide their coordination efforts or formally involve each other in strategic planning efforts. As a result, coordination between the two agencies is largely informal and inconsistent. Most of the coordination that occurs is initiated by individual staff members or by outside parties. Such informal coordination may not be sufficient given the pending retirements of many engineers and scientists and other challenges that both agencies face. While most of the penalties proposed by MSHA are paid by mine operators without opposition, a small percentage of the cases involving more serious and higher dollar penalties are appealed, and those appealed are reduced significantly. Between 1996 and 2006, MSHA proposed assessing mine operators 506,707 penalties for violations of underground coal mine safety and health standards--at an average penalty amount of $234 per violation. MSHA uses a standard formula to propose penalties, but the other entities involved in the appeals process such as Labor's Solicitor's Office use considerable discretion in deciding on the final penalty amount. Approximately 6 percent (31,589) of the violations were appealed by mine operators. About half of the penalties for the appealed violations were reduced by an average of 49 percent, regardless of the seriousness of the gravity of the violation and the degree of operator's negligence.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Daniel Bertoni
Government Accountability Office: Education, Workforce, and Income Security
(202) 512-5988
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To help mines train their workers under simulated emergency conditions, the Secretary of Labor should direct MSHA to publicize information and available tools for training mine workers under such conditions. In addition, MSHA should periodically review and update this information, as appropriate.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA stated that it will develop a Web page to publicize and update information on training mine workers under simulated emergency conditions. MSHA will issue an information bulletin to mine operators about the Web-based resource. To provide mine operators with additional options, MSHA noted that is has asked NIOSH to examine methods of providing simulated emergency training and to consider the cost of these methods.
Recommendation: To help ensure that mine workers are adequately prepared for emergencies, MSHA should strengthen its monitoring of training. This monitoring should include reviewing and standardizing districts' procedures for approving new instructors.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Mine Safety and Health Administration
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA indicated that it will develop and implement standardized procedures for approving new instructors. In addition, it will develop an instructor evaluation plan to use in determining the effectiveness of training provided to mines. Regarding establishing continuing education requirements for approved instructors, MSHA indicated that it has asked NIOSH to review the effectiveness of such requirements. MSHA noted that this action may require regulatory changes. MSHA also recognized the need to improve the data it maintains on instructors and noted that it plans to improve its tracking and dissemination of up-to-date information on approved instructors.
Recommendation: To help ensure that mine workers are adequately prepared for emergencies, MSHA should strengthen its monitoring of training. This monitoring should include establishing continuing education requirements for instructors to help instructors maintain or improve their knowledge and skills.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Mine Safety and Health Administration
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA indicated that it will develop and implement standardized procedures for approving new instructors. In addition, it will develop an instructor evaluation plan to use in determining the effectiveness of training provided to mines. Regarding establishing continuing education requirements for approved instructors, the agency indicated that it has asked NIOSH to review the effectiveness of such requirements. MSHA noted that this action may require regulatory changes. The agency also recognized the need to improve the data it maintains on instructors and noted that it plans to improve its tracking and dissemination of up-to-date information on approved instructors.
Recommendation: To help ensure that mine workers are adequately prepared for emergencies, MSHA should strengthen its monitoring of training. This monitoring should include improving the data in its records on approved instructors.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Mine Safety and Health Administration
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA indicated that it will develop and implement standardized procedures for approving new instructors. In addition, it will develop an instructor evaluation plan to use in determining the effectiveness of training provided to mines. Regarding establishing continuing education requirements for approved instructors, the agency indicated that it has asked NIOSH to review the effectiveness of such requirements. MSHA noted that this action may require regulatory changes. It also recognized the need to improve the data it maintains on instructors and noted that it plans to improve its tracking and dissemination of up-to-date information on approved instructors.
Recommendation: To help ensure that mine workers are adequately prepared for emergencies, MSHA should strengthen its monitoring of training. This monitoring should include developing a process for monitoring miner training that includes regularly evaluating training sessions, assessing how well learning objectives are being met, and providing feedback to instructors.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Mine Safety and Health Administration
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA indicated that it will develop and implement standardized procedures for approving new instructors. In addition, it will develop an instructor evaluation plan to use in determining the effectiveness of training provided to mines. Regarding establishing continuing education requirements for approved instructors, the agency indicated that it has asked NIOSH to review the effectiveness of such requirements. MSHA noted that this action may require regulatory changes. MSHA also recognized the need to improve the data it maintains on instructors and noted that it plans to improve its tracking and dissemination of up-to-date information on approved instructors.
Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of information sharing between MSHA and NIOSH, the Secretaries of Labor and Health and Human Services should direct their respective agencies to work together to establish a formal memorandum of understanding to guide their coordination. In addition, the agencies should periodically review and update the memorandum, as appropriate.
Agency Affected: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA noted that both agencies started the process of developing a memorandum of understanding in 2002 and stated that it will work with NIOSH to revitalize this effort and complete the process. NIOSH agreed with the need for a formal agreement.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA noted that both agencies started the process of developing a memorandum of understanding in 2002 and stated that it will work with NIOSH to revitalize this effort and complete the process. NIOSH agreed in its comments with the need for a formal agreement.
Recommendation: In order to ensure that there is transparency in penalty determinations, the Department of Labor's Office of the Solicitor, MSHA, and the Commission should take steps to ensure that the specific rationale for all final penalty amounts, including reductions from MSHA's proposed penalties, are adequately documented.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Office of the Solicitor General
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA, Labor's Office of the Solicitor, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission agreed in their agency comments that there needs to be transparency in penalty determinations and that the specific rationale need to be provided when penalties are reduced from the levels originally proposed. MSHA and the Solicitor commented that they would formally remind conference litigation representatives and attorneys to ensure that the rationale for each civil penalty agreement is adequately documented in settlement agreements and case file notes.
Agency Affected: Department of Labor: Mine Safety and Health Administration
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA, Labor's Office of the Solicitor, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission agreed in their agency comments that there needs to be transparency in penalty determinations and that the specific rationale need to be provided when penalties are reduced from the levels originally proposed. MSHA and the Solicitor commented that they would formally remind conference litigation representatives and attorneys to ensure that the rationale for each civil penalty agreement is adequately documented in settlement agreements and case file notes.
Agency Affected: Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Status: In process
Comments: MSHA, Labor's Office of the Solicitor, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission agreed in their agency comments that there needs to be transparency in penalty determinations and that the specific rationale need to be provided when penalties are reduced from the levels originally proposed. MSHA and the Solicitor commented that they would formally remind conference litigation representatives and attorneys to ensure that the rationale for each civil penalty agreement is adequately documented in settlement agreements and case file notes.
