Mar 31, 2016 3 min read

The Mine Safety and Health Administration has cited Dana Mining Co. for four violations after an inspection last month at the company’s 4 West Mine in Mt. Morris.

Since April 2010, MSHA has conducted inspections targeting problem mines. Ten coal mines and five metal and nonmetal mines were inspected in February, the agency said in a release.

The 4 West Mine was chosen for inspection, MSHA said, because of “continued noncompliance” with roof control and ventilation plans, hazardous condition complaints and accident history.

A miner was killed at the mine Jan. 16 when a large rock fell from the wall of an underground mine passageway and crushed him. It was the second mine fatality at 4 West within a year. The previous fatality was June 27.

The inspection at 4 West was conducted Feb. 23 and resulted in nine citations and six orders, MSHA said.

Four violations were considered “unwarrantable,” MSHA said “because the mine operator did not mitigate the known hazards, but demonstrated an indifference or serious lack of reasonable care toward the safety of its miners.”

MSHA said it found unwarrantable failure violations for:

• An inadequate pre-shift exam that failed to identify coal accumulations in a working section;

• Unattended energized equipment left on in a working section for about two hours during a shift change;

• Methane accumulations in the same section because of missing ventilation controls;

• Failure to maintain firefighting equipment along an active beltline.

Brian Osborn, senior vice president of operations for Mepco Inc., of which Dana Mining is an affiliate, said the company normally doesn’t comment on citations.

The company has contested citations in the past and been successful in having them overturned, he said.

MSHA and the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Mining are currently completing their investigations of the Jan. 16 fatality.

Jeremy R. Niece, 31, of Danville, W.Va., a continuous mine machine operator, died when a rock about four and a half feet long, three feet high and three feet thick fell from the wall of the mine tunnel and crushed him, MSHA said.

Following the fatality, DEP issued an order prohibiting the company from mining in areas where it could encounter conditions similar to those where the fatality occurred until the company presented a plan to address the problem.

The mine addressed those issues, DEP said Thursday, by indicating on mine maps where support was needed, retrofitting bolting machines to secure the walls while mining progressed and training workers on how to properly install rib support.

“Once the rib support was initiated, the restrictions were lifted,” DEP spokesman John Poister said in an email response to question.

DEP has been working with the company to insure the mine is safe. “DEP mining inspectors have been on scene regularly and their observations of the underground show improvement with regard to clean up, the electrical set up underground and rib (wall) support,” Poister wrote.