4795606c_South___Corrective_Action_Plan__Recommendation
[Date Due] 6/30/2012 12/31/2013 [Status] Completed In Progress [Corrective Action Taken] To address part of this recommendation, the Administrators for Coal and Metal and Nonmetal consulted with the Office of the Solicitor on May 10, 2012. On June 12, 2012, the Administrator for Coal instructed district managers regarding advance notice for purposes of Section 103(a) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. On August 26, 2010, and again on November 5, 2012, the Administrator for Metal and Nonmetal instructed district managers regarding advance notice for purposes of Section 103(a) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Consistent with the Assistant Secretary's instructions to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations to develop a draft centralized administrative review process for Directives, Coal will revise the Program Policy Manual to address actions that constitute advance notice of inspections. [Recommendation] 
The Administrators for Coal and Metal and Nonmetal should consult with the Office of the Solicitor, Mine Safety and Health Division, to revise the Program Policy Manual to address actions by operators, their agents, or their employees that constitute advance notice of inspections for the purposes of section 103(a). The Manual explicitly should instruct that section 103(a) is violated when an operator impedes an inspection by giving advance notice of MSHA’s presence on mine property to outlying surface and underground facilities, regardless of whether the inspection already has commenced or whether the inspector explicitly has warned the operator against providing such notice.
MSHA - Performance Coal - Upper Big Branch Mine-South - Corrective Action Plan
Recommendation