New MSHA penalties unveiled

Well, grit your teeth and bear it. Today, MSHA published its final version of the 30 CFR Part 100 “Criteria and Procedures for Proposed Assessment of Civil Penalties” rule in the Federal Register. Click here to read the official press release. The penalty change was a requirement of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act, which was signed into law on June 15, 2006.
In the final rule, MSHA states that the penalties are an “across-the-board” change from the existing regulations. The rule goes on to state that “penalties increase more significantly for large mine operators, operators with a history of repeated violations of the same standard and for operators whose violations involve high degrees of negligence or gravity. The higher penalties in the final rules are intended to increase the incentives for mine operators to prevent and correct violations.”
The final rule implements the following requirements of the MINER Act:
* A civil penalty of $5,000-$60,000 for failing to report an incident/accident which poses a reasonable risk of death within the first 15 minutes of occurrence;
* A minimum penalty for 104 (d)(1) (or Significant & Substantial) of $2,000;
* A minimum penalty for 104 (d)(2) (or Unwarrantable Failure orders) of $4,000, and;
* The addition of “flagrant violations” with an assessed civil penalty of not more than $220,000.

The final rule is effective April 23, 2007. Your comment?