The Mine Act places the responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of miners on mine operators. Congress enacted the pattern of violations (POV) provision to provide MSHA with an additional enforcement tool when other tools had proven ineffective. Congress intended MSHA to use the POV provision to restore safe and healthful conditions at mines with a pattern of significant and substantial (S&S) violations. The legislative history states that Congress believed the existence of a pattern would signal to both the mine operator and the Secretary that ‘‘there is a need to restore the mine to effective safe and healthful conditions and that the mere abatement of violations as they are cited is insufficient.”
A mine operator that has a pattern of S&S violations at a mine will receive written notice from MSHA. For each subsequent S&S violation, MSHA will issue an order withdrawing miners from the affected area until the cited condition has been corrected. MSHA will terminate an operator’s POV notice when 1) an inspection of the entire mine is completed and no S&S violations are found or 2) no withdrawal order is issued by MSHA in accordance with Section 104(e)(1) of the Mine Act within 90 days of the issuance of the pattern notice.
Mine operators can determine whether they may be subject to a POV notice by using MSHA’s Pattern of Violations Monitoring Tool. It is the responsibility of mine operators to track their violation and injury histories to determine whether they need to take action to avoid triggering a POV notice. Operators who are at risk of receiving a POV notice are encouraged to implement a corrective action program to reduce S&S violations. More information about corrective action programs can be found in MSHA’s Pattern of Violations Procedures Summary.
Final Rule (published January 23, 2013)
A final rule on Pattern of Violations was published January 23, 2013, and became effective March 25, 2013. This link below is for that final rule.
Pattern of Violations; Final Rule (Published January 23, 2013)
Fact Sheet
Press Release
1/17/2013 Conference Call Audio File (.wav)
Monthly Monitoring Tool for Pattern of Violations
S&S Citations/Orders per 100 Inspection Hours - 12-month Period 01-May-2012 through 30-Apr-2013
| Primary Mine Type/Classification | Top 35 Percentile Goal | Top 50 Percentile Goal | National Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facility Coal | 2.12 | 3.06 | 4.01 |
| Surface Coal | 2.53 | 3.27 | 4.29 |
| Underground Coal | 2.76 | 3.50 | 3.97 |
| Facility Metal/NonMetal | 4.21 | 5.43 | 9.12 |
| Surface Metal/NonMetal | 5.88 | 7.84 | 11.23 |
| Underground Metal/NonMetal | 2.45 | 3.59 | 4.19 |
Resources
Pattern of Violations Screening Criteria - 2013
Pattern of Violations (POV) Procedures Summary - 2013
30 CFR Part 104 - Pattern Of Violations
Media Information
Listing of all mines to have received PPOV Notices (As of 11/28/2012) Current Releases -
No Current Releases Previous Releases -
Press Release (1/17/2013)
MSHA to publish pattern of violations final rulePress Release (11/28/2012)
MSHA issues potential pattern of violations letters to 4 mines
Number of operations with chronic violations decliningPress Release (11/30/2011)
MSHA puts 8 mines on notice for potential patterns of violationsPress Release (10/13/2011)
2 West Virginia coal mines formerly owned by Massey Energy receive PPOV notices from MSHA after record-keeping audits reveal unreported accidents
Administrative law judge confirms federal agency's request for audit informationPress Release (08/30/2011)
MSHA audits uncover injury, illness underreporting at Kentucky mine
4th operation to be placed on potential pattern of violations status
Press Release (08/25/2011)
US Labor Department's MSHA issues notices of potential pattern of violations to mines in Tennessee and West Virginia
Second notices issued after backsliding on compliance
Press Release (04/12/2011)
US Labor Department's MSHA places 2 mining operations on pattern of violations status
Unprecedented enforcement action is first in Mine Act history
- Media conference call on POV announcement (4/12/2011)
Press Release (04/06/2011)
US Labor Department's MSHA announces online tool enabling mine operators to self-monitor for POV screening
Press Release (09/28/2010)
MSHA takes steps to overhaul 'broken' pattern of violations program New criteria developed for screening mines
Press Release (09/30/2010)
MSHA announces tougher POV provisions, responds to OIG audit
Press Release (11/19/2010)
MSHA puts 13 mines on notice for potential pattern of violations
Mines represent first group to be identified under agency's new screening criteria
Press Release (12/20/2010)
MSHA audit reveals additional mine's eligibility for potential pattern of violations
Maple Eagle No. 1 Mine in West Virginia had under-reported injuries
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