According to the Associated Press, 49-year-old Luke Pugh and 39-year-old Chad Farrell have been indicted on 37 charges and 30 counts respectively, after lying about their credentials and working as foremen.

Pugh’s charges are reportedly from 2007, when he worked at the Pleasant Hill mine in Randolph County. Farrell’s charges span a nine-month period between September 2008 and June 2009, when he was on staff at the Poplar Ridge operation in Webster County.

The AP said both men had allegedly claimed to be certified and signed off on examinations in record books. Pugh was also charged with lying to a federal inspector.

Assistant attorney general for the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training Elaine Skorich told the news service that Farrell had voluntarily surrendered his miner’s certification in February, and that Pugh had skipped a hearing and was subsequently suspended.

Both accused face prison time if found guilty.

Earlier this week, Massey Energy confirmed reports that one of its Upper Big Branch miners forged a foreman’s certification and conducted hundreds of safety inspections using fraudulent credentials in 2008 and 2009.

Local West Virginian newspaper the Charleston Gazette reportedly obtained documents under the US Freedom of Information Act last weekend which showed that Thomas Harrah, a former employee of the Raleigh County operation, performed approximately 228 pre-shift, on-shift and conveyor belt safety inspections over nearly two years.

According to the documentation, Harrah was employed at UBB from January 2008 to August 2009, until state investigators discovered that his certification had actually been issued to another individual in 2007. By August, Harrah had transferred to Massey’s Slip Ridge Cedar Grove mine, where he continued to sign reports using the false certification number.

While Harrah did have a West Virginian certification to work as a coal miner, Massey told ILN that it appeared he had forged the foreman certification after he was unable to pass the exam.

“When Mr Harrah was caught having forged the certification, he left before we could terminate his employment, which we intended to do,” Massey vice-president and general counsel Shane Harvey said.

“It does not appear that he blames anyone else for the incident other than himself and we feel confident that no one at Massey helped Mr Harrah violate the law. We have no tolerance for such behavior and are thankful that no one was hurt as a result of Mr Harrah's conduct.”

Harvey added that Massey had quickly taken steps after the discovery to verify that all miner certifications for its employees were accurate, and it would continue to be vigilant on the issue.

“We feel that we have learned a valuable lesson from the incident,” he said.