Mine Safety
MSHA's Programs for Ensuring the Safety and Health of Coal Miners Could Be Strengthened Gao ID: GAO-06-370T January 23, 2006The Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, Senate Committee on Appropriations, asked GAO to submit a statement for the record highlighting findings from our 2003 report on how well the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) oversees its process for reviewing and approving critical types of mine plans and the extent to which MSHA's inspections and accident investigations processes help ensure the safety and health of underground coal miners.
As of 2003, to help ensure the safety and health of underground coal miners, MSHA staff reviewed and approved mine plans, conducted inspections, and investigated serious accidents. In these three areas, MSHA had extensive procedures and qualified staff. However, we concluded that MSHA could improve its oversight, guidance, and human-capital-planning efforts. We found that MSHA was not effectively monitoring a few key areas. MSHA headquarters did not ensure that 6-month inspections of ventilation and roof support plans were being completed on a timely basis. This failure could have led to mines operating without up-to-date plans or mine operators not following all requirements of the plans. Additionally, MSHA officials did not always ensure that hazards found during inspections were corrected promptly. Gaps were found in the information that MSHA used to monitor fatal and nonfatal injuries, limiting trend analysis and agency oversight. Specifically, the agency did not collect information on hours worked by independent contractors staff needed to compute fatality and nonfatal injury rates for specific mines, and it was difficult to link information on accidents at underground coal mines with MSHA's investigations. We also concluded that the guidance provided by MSHA management to agency employees could be strengthened. Some inspections procedures were unclear and were contained in many sources, leading to differing interpretations by mine inspectors. The guidance on coordinating inspections conducted by specialists and regular inspectors was also unclear, resulting in some duplication of effort. Finally, as of 2003, although about 44 percent of MSHA's underground coal mine inspectors were going to be eligible to retire within 5 years, the agency had no plan for replacing them or using other human capital flexibilities available to retain its highly qualified and trained inspectors.
GAO-06-370T, Mine Safety: MSHA's Programs for Ensuring the Safety and Health of Coal Miners Could Be Strengthened
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, Committee on
Appropriations, U.S. Senate:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 11:00 a.m. EST:
Monday, January 23, 2006:
Mine Safety:
MSHA's Programs for Ensuring the Safety and Health of Coal Miners Could
Be Strengthened:
Statement for the Record by Robert E. Robertson, Director, Education,
Workforce, and Income Security Issues:
GAO-06-370T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-06-370T, a report to Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and
Education, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate:
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, Senate
Committee on Appropriations, asked GAO to submit a statement for the
record highlighting findings from our 2003 report on how well the
Department of Labor‘s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
oversees its process for reviewing and approving critical types of mine
plans and the extent to which MSHA‘s inspections and accident
investigations processes help ensure the safety and health of
underground coal miners.
What GAO Found:
As of 2003, to help ensure the safety and health of underground coal
miners, MSHA staff reviewed and approved mine plans, conducted
inspections, and investigated serious accidents. In these three areas,
MSHA had extensive procedures and qualified staff. However, we
concluded that MSHA could improve its oversight, guidance, and human-
capital-planning efforts.
We found that MSHA was not effectively monitoring a few key areas. MSHA
headquarters did not ensure that 6-month inspections of ventilation and
roof support plans were being completed on a timely basis. This failure
could have led to mines operating without up-to-date plans or mine
operators not following all requirements of the plans. Additionally,
MSHA officials did not always ensure that hazards found during
inspections were corrected promptly. Gaps were found in the information
that MSHA used to monitor fatal and nonfatal injuries, limiting trend
analysis and agency oversight. Specifically, the agency did not collect
information on hours worked by independent contractors staff needed to
compute fatality and nonfatal injury rates for specific mines, and it
was difficult to link information on accidents at underground coal
mines with MSHA‘s investigations.
We also concluded that the guidance provided by MSHA management to
agency employees could be strengthened. Some inspections procedures
were unclear and were contained in many sources, leading to differing
interpretations by mine inspectors. The guidance on coordinating
inspections conducted by specialists and regular inspectors was also
unclear, resulting in some duplication of effort.
Finally, as of 2003, although about 44 percent of MSHA‘s underground
coal mine inspectors were going to be eligible to retire within 5
years, the agency had no plan for replacing them or using other human
capital flexibilities available to retain its highly qualified and
trained inspectors.
Miners Exiting an Underground Coal Mine:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
What GAO Recommends:
In our September 2003 report, GAO recommended that MSHA
* monitor the timeliness of inspections conducted as part of the 6-
month review of certain mine plans;
* ensure that mine operators are correcting hazards identified during
inspections in a timely manner;
* develop a plan for addressing anticipated shortages in the number of
qualified inspectors due to upcoming retirements; and
* revise the systems used to collect information on accidents and
investigations.
Although MSHA did not comment on our recommendations in its written
response to the report, it subsequently agreed to implement all of the
recommendations. We have not, however, evaluated the effectiveness
MSHA‘s actions.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-370T.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Robert E. Robertson at
(202) 512-7215 or robertsonr@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Background:
GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
Figures:
Figure 1: Fatality Rates for Underground and Surface Coal Mines, 1993
to 2002:
Figure 2: Percentage of All Citations Issued from 1993 to 2002 for
Which Inspectors Did Not Follow Up by the Specified Deadlines:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to have the opportunity to comment on important issues
related to the recent tragedies in the coal mining community. The
oversight that the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) provides over coal mines is an essential element
of properly safeguarding the lives of the thousands of workers who
provide us with much of the fuel needed to meet the increasing energy
needs of our country.
In 1977, Congress gave much of the responsibility for ensuring the
safety and health of mine workers to MSHA. Since that time, the
nation's mines have become much safer--the number of deaths dropped
dramatically in the past 25 years and injury rates are also lower.
However, despite these trends, mining remains a dangerous industry, as
the recent tragic deaths illustrate. Data collected by MSHA on serious
injuries (those involving days away from work) shows that coal mining
remains one of the most dangerous industries in the United States.
My statement is based on work we reported in September 2003 and
presents key findings and recommendations from that report.[Footnote 1]
That work was completed in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
In summary, we reported in 2003 that:
Although MSHA devoted substantial effort to reviewing and approving
mine plans, it did not provide adequate oversight of the plan approval
process. MSHA had extensive procedures for approving mine plans and,
for two of the three types of plans we reviewed--ventilation and roof
support[Footnote 2] plans--assigns highly qualified staff to the review
and approval process. However, MSHA headquarters did not verify that
mine operators were updating the plans as required. As a result, some
mines may have been operating without adequate ventilation or roof
support plans, which could have directly affected the safety and health
of mine workers.
MSHA had extensive procedures for conducting inspections of mines, had
highly trained and experienced staff, and conducted most mine
inspections as required. However, the extent to which the inspections
process helped ensure the safety and health of mine workers was limited
by several factors. For example, we found that, from 1993 to 2002, MSHA
headquarters did not provide adequate oversight to ensure that mine
operators corrected hazards identified during inspections. In addition,
as of 2003, MSHA had no plan for addressing the fact that about 44
percent of its inspectors were going to be eligible to retire within 5
years.
MSHA had a comprehensive process for conducting investigations of mine
accidents, but it did not use the process to the fullest extent
possible to improve the future safety and health of mine workers.
Weaknesses in the databases MSHA used to track mine accidents and
accident investigations limited its ability to monitor trends in mine
hazards and ensure that all serious accidents were investigated.
We made a number of recommendations to the Secretary of Labor designed
improve MSHA's ability to protect the safety and health of coal miners
by providing better oversight over its operations and improving its
mine plan review and approval, inspections, and accident investigation
processes. We are pleased that MSHA has taken action to implement these
recommendations. We have not, however, examined the effectiveness of
the agency's actions or the extent to which these actions have
addressed the issues we reported in 2003.
Background:
In passing the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the "Mine
Act"), Congress gave much of the responsibility for ensuring the safety
and health of mine workers to MSHA. Under the stringent requirements of
the Mine Act, MSHA must protect the health and safety of miners by
thoroughly inspecting each underground coal mine at least four times a
year, citing mine operators for violations of the Mine Act, ensuring
that hazards are quickly corrected, restricting operations or closing
mines for more serious violations, and investigating serious mine
accidents. In addition, MSHA must approve the initial plans that mine
operators prepare for essential systems that protect mine workers--such
as ventilation and roof support systems--and revisions to the plans. To
carry out these responsibilities, in 2003, MSHA had approximately 350
inspectors and 210 specialists in eleven district offices.
At the end of 2002, the United States had approximately 2,050 coal
mines--about 700 underground coal mines and 1,350 surface mines. From
1993 to 2002, the number of underground and surface coal mines in the
United States declined and the number of mine workers decreased.
Despite this decrease in the number of mines and miners, production
remained constant because of the increased use of mechanized mining
equipment and more efficient mining techniques. In addition, over the
past several decades, coal production has shifted from primarily
underground mines to large surface mines, including mines in Wyoming
and other areas west of the Mississippi that produce millions of tons
of coal annually.
Underground coal mines are more dangerous than surface mines for
several reasons. One critical factor that contributes to the hazardous
working conditions is highly explosive methane gas, which is often
produced in large quantities when coal is extracted from underground
mines. Additional factors are the geological conditions in many areas
of the country that make the roofs of mines unstable, the danger posed
by fire in an underground mine, coal and silica dust that can cause
silicosis and pneumoconiosis (black lung disease), and the close
proximity of unknown areas of abandoned mines, which can lead to
flooding of the mine. As shown in figure 1, for the 10-year period from
1993 to 2002, fatality rates for underground coal mines were much
higher than those for surface mines.
Figure 1: Fatality Rates for Underground and Surface Coal Mines, 1993
to 2002:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
MSHA Devoted Substantial Effort to Approving Mine Plans, but Did Not
Provide Adequate Oversight of the Approval Process:
MSHA had extensive procedures and highly qualified staff for approving
two of the three types of plans we reviewed--ventilation and roof
support plans--and most of these plans were reviewed and approved on a
timely basis. However, MSHA headquarters did not adequately monitor
completion of required inspections of the ventilation and roof support
plans; data maintained by the district offices indicates that some
districts were not completing these inspections as required. In
addition, MSHA headquarters had not provided clear guidance to the
districts on coordinating inspections related to mine plans with
quarterly inspections of underground coal mines in order to avoid
duplication of effort by district staff. Finally, staffing shortages
prevented MSHA from reviewing and approving plans for containing debris
produced by the mines on a timely basis.
MSHA had extensive procedures for approving ventilation and roof
support plans. Mine operators were required to submit their initial
ventilation and roof support plans to the MSHA district in which the
mine was located for approval prior to operating a mine and were
required to submit revised plans to the district for approval at least
every 6 months.[Footnote 3] The district managers were ultimately
responsible for approving ventilation and roof support plans submitted
to their districts. Generally, districts were required to approve
ventilation and roof support plans within 45 days of receipt unless
problems are found that must be resolved. In some of the districts we
visited, state mine agencies were also required to approve the mine
plans. We reviewed this information for a 5-year period, 1998 to 2002,
and found that most districts approved these plans on a timely basis.
However, MSHA headquarters did not adequately monitor completion of
required inspections of ventilation and roof support plans by the
district offices. Districts were required to conduct inspections at
least once every 6 months of the ventilation and roof support plans in
order to ensure that mine operators were following the requirements of
the plans and that they were updating the plans to reflect changes in
the ventilation and roof support systems. The specialists who reviewed
the mine plans during the approval process also conducted many of these
inspections. Our analysis of the information submitted by the district
offices to MSHA headquarters on the completion of these inspections for
the 5-year period from 1998 to 2002 indicated that several districts
had not completed the inspections as required. As a result of districts
not completing these inspections, some mines may have been operating
without adequate ventilation or roof support plans.
Inspections of the mines' ventilation and roof support plans are
essential in ensuring adequate airflow and controlling the accumulation
of dust particles in underground coal mines as well as ensuring that
the roofs are adequately supported. Inadequate ventilation systems or
roof support systems can directly affect the safety and health of mine
workers. For example, our review of MSHA's data on fatalities at
underground coal mines from 1998 to 2002 showed that problems related
to ventilation and roof support systems accounted for high proportions
of fatalities in underground coal mines. For this 5-year period,
ignitions or explosions from excessive gas or coal dust accounted for
the third largest percentage of all fatalities--14 percent--and roof
falls accounted for the largest percentage--34 percent.
In addition, MSHA did not always effectively coordinate its inspections
of mine plans with the comprehensive quarterly inspections of
underground coal mines in order to avoid duplication of effort by
district staff. In two of the five districts we visited, we found that,
in some instances, the specialists who conduct the inspections of mine
plans and inspectors who conduct quarterly inspections were duplicating
each other's work, resulting in an inefficient use of MSHA's resources.
MSHA is also responsible for approving plans for containing mine
debris, called impoundment plans.[Footnote 4] As of 2003, MSHA had
responsibility for approximately 600 coal impoundments. Many of these
plans are extremely complex and require highly qualified engineers who
are familiar with technical areas such as dam building techniques,
hydrology, and soil conditions. Failure of an impoundment can be
devastating to nearby communities, which may be flooded with water and
sludge, and to the environment, affecting streams and water supplies
for years afterwards. Because of the potential for failure, such as the
impoundment dam failure in 1972 in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, in
which 125 people were killed and 500 homes were destroyed, MSHA is
extremely careful about approving impoundment plans.[Footnote 5]
At the time of our 2003 report, MSHA had conducted two reviews of its
procedures for approving impoundment plans, and has begun to take steps
for improving the process. One review identified several weaknesses in
the procedures, including the need for the agency to develop guidance
for determining which impoundment plans should receive expedited review
as well as evaluating the staffing levels needed to ensure timely and
complete review of the plans. MSHA officials acknowledged that the
delays in the review and approval of impoundment plans had been a
problem for a number of years. They also told us that they had taken a
number of steps to alleviate these delays, such as hiring additional
engineers to review impoundment plans and provide assistance to staff
in its district offices.
MSHA Had Extensive Procedures, Highly Qualified Staff, and Conducted
Most Quarterly Inspections as Required, but Its Inspection Process
Could Have Been Improved:
MSHA's procedures for conducting inspections of underground coal mines
were comprehensive; its inspectors were highly qualified; and it
conducted almost all quarterly inspections as required, but the
agency's inspection process could be improved in a number of ways.
Although MSHA had extensive inspection procedures, some of them were
unclear, while others were difficult to locate because they were
contained in so many different sources. In addition, MSHA conducted
over 96 percent of required quarterly inspections each year over the 10-
year period from 1993 to 2002, but MSHA headquarters did not provide
adequate oversight to ensure that its district offices followed through
to make sure that unsafe conditions identified during inspections were
corrected by the deadlines set by inspectors. And, although MSHA had
highly qualified inspectors, as of 2003, it had no plan for addressing
the fact that about a large percentage of them (44 percent) were going
to be eligible to retire within 5 years. Finally, MSHA did not collect
all of the information it needed to assess the effectiveness of its
enforcement efforts because it did not collect data on contractor staff
who work at each mine.
Although MSHA had extensive inspection procedures, we found that some
of them were unclear and were located in so many different sources that
they could be difficult to find. Some procedures did not clearly
specify the criteria inspectors should use in citing violations. For
example, several district officials in two of the districts we visited
told us that the lack of specific criteria for floating coal dust made
it difficult to determine what was an allowable level.[Footnote 6] As a
result, mine inspectors had to rely on their own experience and
personal opinion to determine if the accumulation of floating coal dust
was a safety hazard that constituted a violation. In some instances,
according to the inspectors and district managers, this led to
inconsistencies in inspectors' interpretations of the procedures;
inspectors have cited violations for levels of floating coal dust that
have not brought citations from other inspectors. In addition, the
inspections procedures were located in so many different handbooks,
manuals, policy bulletins, policy letters, and memorandums that it
could be difficult for inspectors to make sure that they were using the
most recent guidance and procedures. MSHA headquarters officials told
us that they were working to clarify the agency's procedures and
consolidate the number of sources in which they were located.
MSHA's data on its quarterly inspection completion rates indicated
that, from fiscal year 1993 to 2002, its district offices completed
over 96 percent of these inspections as required. However, MSHA
headquarters did not monitor district office performance to ensure that
inspectors followed up with mine operators to determine that unsafe
conditions identified during these inspections were corrected. The
deadlines that inspectors set for mine operators to correct safety and
health hazards varied based on a number of factors, including the
degree of danger to miners affected by the violation. They ranged from
15 minutes from the time the inspector wrote the citation to 27 days
afterwards. MSHA's procedures required inspectors to follow up with
mine operators within the deadline set or to extend the deadline.
Inspectors could extend the deadlines under certain circumstances, such
as when a mine had temporarily shut down its operations or when a mine
operator was unable to obtain a part needed to correct a violation
cited for a piece of equipment.
Our analysis of MSHA's data for the 10-year period from 1993 to 2002
showed that, for almost half of the 536,966 citations for which a
deadline was established, inspectors did not follow up in a timely
manner to make sure mine operators had corrected the hazards.[Footnote
7] However, as shown in figure 2, of the citations for which the
inspectors did not follow up on a timely basis, they followed up on
most within 4 days of the deadline and, for all but 11 percent of the
citations, they followed up within 14 days.
Figure 2: Percentage of All Citations Issued from 1993 to 2002 for
Which Inspectors Did Not Follow Up by the Specified Deadlines:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
The more serious type of violations--"significant and substantial"
violations--accounted for a significant proportion of the citations for
which inspectors did not follow up by the deadlines. For the over
235,447 significant and substantial violations from 1993 to 2002 for
which a deadline was specified, inspectors did not follow up on more
than 48 percent of the citations by the deadline. However, inspectors
followed up on all but about 10 percent of the citations for
significant and substantial violations within 14 days of the deadline.
MSHA headquarters and district officials told us that there were many
different reasons why inspectors may not have followed up by the
deadlines specified in their citations. One of these, according to
several district officials, was scheduling conflicts that prevented
inspectors from visiting the mine within the specified deadline. In
addition, there were circumstances in which inspectors were not able to
follow up, such as when a mine operator suspended a mine's operations.
However, in these instances, the inspector should have updated the
database to show that the deadline was extended.
In addition, although we found that, as of 2003, about 44 percent of
MSHA's highly trained and experienced underground coal mine inspectors
would be eligible to retire within 5 years--and the agency's historic
attrition rates indicated that many of them would actually retire--the
agency had not developed a plan for replacing these inspectors. MSHA
also had fewer inspector trainees on board than vacancies that would
need to be filled when inspectors retired. MSHA headquarters officials
told us that it would be difficult for them quickly hire and train
replacements for the inspectors who retired. In addition to the fact
that at least 18 months were needed to train each new inspector, it
took the agency several months from the date an individual retired to
advertise and fill each vacant position. As a result of losing these
inspectors, MSHA may find it difficult to complete all quarterly
inspections of underground coal mines.
MSHA also did not collect all of the information on contractor staff
who work in underground coal mines needed to assess the effectiveness
of its enforcement activities. Because MSHA does not collect
information on injuries to or hours worked by contractor staff who mine
coal in each underground coal mine, it cannot calculate accurate
fatality or nonfatal injury rates for mines that use contractor staff
to mine coal--rates used to evaluate the effectiveness of its
enforcement efforts. In addition, MSHA could not track trends in fatal
or nonfatal injury rates at specific mines to use to target its
enforcement resources. The fact that MSHA did not track the number of
contractor staff who worked in each mine was important because the
proportion of miners who work for contractors had grown significantly
since 1981, when they represented only 5 percent of all mine workers.
Our analysis showed that the percentage of underground coal miners who
work for contractors increased from 13 percent in 1993 to 18 percent in
2002, and the percentage who incurred nonfatal injuries also increased
over this period.
MSHA Had a Comprehensive Process for Conducting Accident
Investigations, but Did Not Fully Utilize It to Prevent Future
Accidents:
MSHA had extensive guidance and thorough procedures for conducting
accident investigations, but it did not use these investigations to the
fullest extent to improve the future safety of mine workers. Although
MSHA had detailed policies and rigorous requirements for how
investigations must be conducted and reported, weaknesses in its
databases made it difficult for MSHA to track key data on mine hazards
and potentially useful indicators of its own performance.
We made several recommendations in our report designed to improve
MSHA's operations. We recommended that the Secretary of Labor direct
the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health to:
* monitor the timeliness of inspections of ventilation and roof control
plans to ensure that all inspections are completed by district offices
as required;
* monitor follow-up actions taken by its district offices to ensure
that mine operators are correcting hazards identified during
inspections on a timely basis;
* update and consolidate guidance provided to its district offices on
plan approval and inspections to eliminate inconsistencies and outdated
instructions, including clarifying guidance on coordinating regular
quarterly inspections of mines with other inspections;
* develop a plan for addressing anticipated shortages in the number of
qualified inspectors due to upcoming retirements, including considering
options such as streamlining the agency's hiring process and offering
retention allowances;
* amend the guidance provided to independent contractors engaged in
high-hazard activities requiring them to report information on the
number of hours worked by their staff at specific mines so that MSHA
can use this information to compute the injury and fatality rates used
to measure the effectiveness of its enforcement efforts; and:
revise the systems MSHA uses to collect information on accidents and
investigations to provide better data on accidents and make it easier
to link injuries, accidents, and investigations.
MSHA did not comment on the recommendations in its written response to
the report and disagreed with some of our findings. However, MSHA later
agreed to implement all of the recommendations and provided us with
information on how it had implemented or was in the process of
implementing them. We are pleased that MSHA has taken action to
implement these recommendations but note that we have not examined the
effectiveness of the agency's actions or the extent to which these
actions have addressed the issues we reported in 2003.
GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
For further information, please contact Robert E. Robertson at (202)
512-7215. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony
include Revae Moran and Karen Brown.
FOOTNOTES
[1] See U.S. General Accounting Office, Mine Safety: MSHA Devotes
Substantial Effort to Ensuring the Safety and Health of Coal Miners,
but Its Programs Could Be Strengthened, GAO-03-945 (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 5, 2003).
[2] MSHA refers to these plans as "roof control" plans.
[3] Mine operators were required to submit revised ventilation and roof
support plans to the district for approval whenever significant changes
were made to the plans.
[4] MSHA refers to the large embankment dams built to contain debris
produced by the mines (debris that consists mainly of water, rock, and
coal) as "impoundments."
[5] The Bureau of Mines had responsibility for overseeing impoundments
at the time of the Buffalo Creek disaster.
[6] MSHA referred to this as "float" coal dust. It is extremely
combustible and can cause explosions in underground coal mines.
[7] MSHA did not set a deadline for correction of every type of
violation. For example, inspectors were not required to set a deadline
for an order in which the mine was closed due to "imminent danger."
