Massey Energy Company (NYSE:MEE) today reinforced its total commitment to safety and provided additional context to the safety history of its mining operations.
– Since January 2009, UBB has had less than one violation per day of
inspection by MSHA, a rate consistent with national averages. Most of
the citations issued by MSHA to UBB in the last year were resolved on
the same day they were issued.
read the press release here.
I’m not a math wiz by any means, but….
As far as "less than 1 violation per day of MSHA inspection":
Mines are only required to be inspected 4 times per year. This year, MSHA enforcement personnel have already spent 51 days and have logged 803 hours inspecting the Upper Big Branch site and issued 124 citations. That works out to 2.4 per day of MSHA inspection.
In 2009, MSHA enforcement personnel logged 180 days and 2,999 hours at the Upper Big Branch mine and issued citations for 515 violations. That works out to 2.8 violations per day of MSHA inspection.
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040905117.html – “MSHA said that in the past year, the Upper Big Branch mine exceeded national averages in eleven citation categories and that for the most serious type of safety violation the mine had more than 11 times the national rate.”
As far as the lost-time incident rate being better than the industry average for 17 of the past 19 years – one has to wonder if under-reporting and “encouragement” not to claim a valid work injury is more likely.
