ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has released a new bulletin about the prohibition of advance notification of federal mine inspectors on mine property. The bulletin reminds mine operators, miners’ representatives and MSHA enforcement personnel that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) prohibits providing advance notice of inspections conducted by MSHA inspectors.

MSHA decided to distribute these guidelines based, in part, on testimony delivered during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing in West Virginia in May.  Testimony from family members of miners who died in the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine indicated that concerns over safety conditions existed at the mine prior to the deadly blast. Two weeks after the blast, MSHA conducted a series of enhanced inspections at 57 coal mines around the country and found that, in at least two cases, miners illegally provided advance notice of a federal inspector’s presence on mine property. 

Federal law provides that any person who gives advance notice of any inspection is, upon conviction, subject to a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment or both.  The law also imposes personal liability on individual corporate agents if they knowingly authorized, ordered or carried out a violation of a mandatory health or safety standard or an order issued under the law.