In its June program MSHA handed out 157 citations, 10 orders and one safeguard during special impact inspections at nine coal mines and four metal/nonmetal mines.

Metinvest’s 3 Pole mine collected the most citations with 30, with 21 of those being serious and substantial. It also received four orders.

Next was James River Coal Company’s #68 mine with 23, although only three were serious and substantial.

Alliance Resource Partners’ Tunnel Ridge mine had 18 citations and 11 of those were serious and substantial. The mine also received one order.

The monthly inspections, which began in April 2010 in response to the fatal explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine, involve mines that merit increased agency attention and enforcement due to their poor compliance history or particular compliance concerns.

These matters include high numbers of violations or closure orders; frequent hazard complaints or hotline calls; plan compliance issues; inadequate workplace examinations; a high number of accidents, injuries or illnesses; fatalities; or adverse conditions such as increased methane liberation, faulty roof conditions and inadequate ventilation and respirable dust.

“The data we’ve collected from our impact inspection program, which strategically targets problem mines, shows compliance is improving and that we continue to move the mine safety needle in the right direction,” assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health Joe Main said.

“These impact inspections are a critical part of MSHA’s enforcement efforts to make sure mine operators take seriously their legal obligation to ensure that miners go home safe and healthy at the end of their shift.”

Since April 2010 MSHA has conducted 629 impact inspections and issued 10,640 citations, 980 orders and 45 safeguards.