Inspector General's Findings Introduce New Pressures On MSHA Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found "significant weaknesses" in the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) overall management of the process of issuing, terminating, modifying, and abating violations, according to a recent OIG audit.

The OIG reviewed "the 706,007 citations and safeguards issued from January 1, 2013, to September 30, 2019." Of particular note, the OIG determined that 218,354 of the citations and safeguards were terminated after the abatement deadline set by MSHA.

The OIG criticized the agency's effort in this regard and asserted that these overdue terminations could result in "miners' unnecessary continued exposure to work hazards." The OIG also reproached MSHA for what it contended was a tendency to provide operators with broader abatement deadlines than were necessary and for MSHA's failure to issue a sufficient number of 104(b) orders to punish operators for failing to timely abate violations. These