351.025 Duties of department relating to mine safety -- Administrative regulations

351.025 Duties of department relating to mine safety -- Administrative regulations.

The department shall:

(1) Promulgate administrative regulations that establish comprehensive criteria for the

imposition and enforcement of sanctions against certified and noncertified

personnel and owners and part-owners of licensed premises whose intentional

violation of, or order to violate, mine safety laws places miners in imminent danger

of serious injury or death. These criteria shall include but not be limited to the

following:

(a) In the case of individuals that are certified miners, the Mine Safety Review

Commission may revoke or suspend an individual's certification, or probate an

individual's certification for first offenses, and the Mine Safety Review

Commission shall establish a maximum penalty for subsequent offenses;

(b) In the case of individuals that are owners or part-owners of licensed premises,

the Mine Safety Review Commission may impose civil monetary penalties

against individuals not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000); and

(c) In the case of noncertified personnel, the Mine Safety Review Commission

may impose civil monetary fines equivalent to the value of the wages they

receive for up to ten (10) working days for first offenses and the commission

shall establish maximum penalties for subsequent offenses;

(2) Notwithstanding KRS 351.070(15), promulgate administrative regulations that

establish comprehensive criteria for the Mine Safety Review Commission's

imposition of penalties against licensed premises for violations of mine safety laws

that place miners in imminent danger of serious injury or death. These penalties

shall include but not be limited to the revocation or suspension of the mine's

license, the probation of a mine's license, or the imposition of a penalty against the

licensee not to exceed the gross value of the production of the licensed premise for

up to ten (10) working days;

(3) Direct that an employer shall not directly or indirectly reimburse a sanctioned miner

or mine supervisor for days of work lost as a result of sanctions imposed by the

Mine Safety Review Commission;

(4) Establish procedures by which the department shall communicate with the Federal

Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) concerning allegations of mine

safety violations against Kentucky coal operators and miners and for reports made

to the division under KRS 351.193;

(5) Jointly with the Mine Safety Review Commission establish a process for referring

allegations of mine safety violations to the Mine Safety Review Commission for

adjudication and for the hearing of appeals from penalties imposed by the division,

and the underlying violation, authorized under KRS 351.070(15); and

(6) Establish procedures to distribute quarterly reports to every licensed entity

describing mine fatalities, serious mine accidents, and penalties imposed on

certified and noncertified personnel and licensed premises and to require the report

to be distributed to every certified working miner employed by the licensed entity,

posted at work sites, and reviewed at regular mine safety meetings.