A roof bolter operator was fatally injured at the company’s Tracy Lynne operation in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, in June 2005 when a section fell. The worker was securing an area previously being held by 36-inch bolts with six-foot resin grouted bolts.
The $150,000 assessed to the mine include three violations, each with a $50,000 fine assessed. They include failure to perform a pre-shift examination, failure to add additional bolts in an adverse area, and allowing cut depths exceeding 20 feet in an area where conditions were not adequate.
MSHA, which referred to the company’s actions as “high negligence”, said its priority was the safety of all workers.
“The failure of any mine operator to provide safe working conditions carried a high risk for their miners and will not be tolerated,” agency acting administrator David Dye said.
“MSHA will assess strong penalties, as in this case, when a miner suffered fatal injuries because the operator failed to provide safe working conditions.”
Rosebud Mining has 30 days to appeal the action.
In February, the PA Department of Environmental Protection allowed production to restart at another Rosebud operation, its Logansport mine, for the first time since a miner was killed there last December.
The worker, Eric Benjamin Hill, 30, a continuous miner operator, also died from a roof fall accident.
