Frank,

I'm sure you are already in front of this latest push from MSHA, but I don't know if everyone is aware of some of the details of this "slippery slope" approach to increase review.

Recently I received an e-mail from someone in corporate that had had a conversation with a local inspector who shared what's down the road and I have copied some of the content in this e-mail.

 (Large fonts, Bold fonts, and italics added by $afepro for emphasis or protection of the Company, its employees, and the inspector from MSHA retaliation.)

"I know each of you have heard about the new MSHA enforcement action called "rules to live by". The Safety team has sent you multiple e-mails detailing the program to the point that we may be at over saturation on the topic.

However, I feel the need to add one more to the long list.

Last week I was able to attend the ******** meeting and MSHA was one of the guest speakers. Their topic was on the rules to live by and how they would be enforcing the program. They did a good job explaining how they were going to enforce this new initiative.

Luckily after the meeting as I was checking into my hotel the MSHA folks were also checking in so we were able to spend some time that evening discussing the new rules and how they were going to be enforced. One of the actual inspectors had been going through the MSHA training this week related to this new initiative.

While the inspector was sympathetic to the new rules he was very clear on how they would be enforced. They had been given clear instructions on how to write any citation that is one of the new rules, in fact in their field computers if the new rule standard is used it is automatic. For Gravity it will be written as Highly Likely, Injury expectation as Fatal, and as an S&S citation. The negligence will be marked as Reckless Disregard. All of these are the highest or worst ratings possible. As I said earlier this will be automatic if you are cited by these specific standards, no amount of discussion will change it. They consider that all the mines have been warned in advance so if that type of condition exists it is because we have not reviewed the situation.

I am asking each of you to double our efforts during pre-site inspections to focus on these items and ensure that all our hourly employees are aware of the situation. Not only will the fines be steep (at least four figures but could be higher based on that mine's previously experience) the inspector hinted at the possibility exists that orders would be written and employees personally held responsible along with the company."

DGM