Pennsylvania Coal Mine Fined $110K for ‘Rogue’ Worker Error

Officials with a southwestern Pennsylvania coal mine say a $110,000 federal workplace safety fine for an electrical hazard is the fault of a “rogue” employee.

Rox Coal of Friedens received the fine, which was reduced from the original amount of $150,200 proposed by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Rox Coal’s general counsel Lori Mason tells the (Somerset) Daily American that the fine was reduced because the company acted in “good faith.”

The federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, which reviewed the allegations, found that the company was “blind-sided” by the actions of the company’s electrician who Mason said acted as a “rogue” employee and ignored his training.

That resulted in one worker being shocked while changing a fuse on a high-voltage switch house at the company’s Geronimo Mine in October 2007.