In Wake of Fatal Fall : Cal-OSHA Cites Mine for 6 Violations

The owners of the 102-year-old Acton gold mine where a man fell to his death in October have been cited for six “serious and willful” violations of state mine-safety regulations.

In citing Pac-West Development Co. Inc., the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal-OSHA, said the company had been told by state safety officials a month before the accident that the mine was unsafe.

Vern Larson, senior safety engineer with Cal-OSHA’s mining and tunneling unit, said that it will probably be at least a week before the agency decides what financial penalties to impose but that the amount would probably be from $30,000 to $60,000.

Like a federal study issued in December, the state citations do not hold mine owner Allen Herron of Palmdale directly responsible for the death of superintendent Roy Madsen, 42. Madsen died while exploring an abandoned shaft near the bottom of the mine, about 20 miles northeast of Sylmar.

Inspection Before Accident Used

Unlike the federal report, however, the Cal-OSHA citations are based partly on an inspection that was made before the accident.

After the Sept. 11 inspection, a Cal-OSHA official told Herron of 12 violations of state mining laws, Larson said.

Larson said those violations included failure to maintain proper oxygen levels in the mine and failure to properly support some of the mine shafts.

Madsen reportedly called out “bad air, bad air” before passing out and falling to the bottom of the shaft. Attempts to rescue him were hampered in part by fear that weak support beams in parts of the mine might collapse under heavy traffic.

A spokesman for the Pac-West company in Palmdale said Herron was out of town this weekend and not available for comment.

Cal-OSHA released two sets of citations last week. The first, based on the September inspection, recommended that Pac-West be fined a total of $625. Violations listed included failure to maintain an “adequate” map of the mine, failure to develop an emergency rescue plan and failure to install adequate ventilation equipment. Larson said the Cal-OSHA official did not order Herron to close the mine.

Reopening of Mine Planned

The mine was closed in October after the accident. Herron plans to reopen it.

The second, more severe set of citations followed Madsen’s death. After inspecting the mine a second time, Cal-OSHA cited Pac-West for failing to tell the state of “serious problems of ground instability at the mine,” for maintaining inadequate safety equipment, for failing to build an access tunnel to older parts of the mine, for failing to build a passage large enough for a rescue team, for failing to circulate air in parts of the mine and for allowing mine employees to enter unsafe areas.

In a December report, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Herron for allowing workers to enter oxygen-deficient areas of the mine and for failing to maintain adequate structural supports in some parts of the mine. Fines for those violations have not yet been announced.

Herron has said he will appeal the federal citations.