Mine Safety: Commission That Reviews Legal Disputes Needs Improved Management Oversight
Fast Facts
The Department of Labor can issue citations, fines, and closure orders to mines if they violate federal safety and health standards. Mines can dispute these, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission will review their cases.
Our review of the Commission found that years of disengaged leadership led to multiple problems that made it harder to accomplish its work. For example, the Commission didn't have a workforce plan to replace retiring judges despite an increase in case processing times.
We recommended addressing this and other issues we found to help the Commission accomplish its work more efficiently.
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Highlights
What GAO Found
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (Commission) has not addressed numerous management and operational weaknesses. According to senior officials, Commission leaders have often been disengaged from administering the Commission's operations and have generally not addressed key challenges faced in carrying out its administrative functions. GAO identified a range of challenges, including:
- Agency performance management. The Commission has not fully incorporated key practices for managing its performance. Although it has established long-term goals in its strategic plan, the Commission does not have ways to measure progress toward most of those goals or consistently use reliable performance data to set new goals. Officials said that current and past Commission chairs were not fully aware of performance management requirements. As a result, the Commission is missing opportunities to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.
- Workforce planning. The Commission lacks a comprehensive workforce plan, which would help address the Commission's operational challenges and future staffing needs. Officials acknowledged that the Commission lacks staff with human capital, financial, and other key skills, but it has not filled those gaps. The Commission also faced performance challenges due to several Administrative Law Judge retirements. One senior official told us the Commission lacks a succession plan even though all judges have been eligible to retire since 2022.
- Other internal control deficiencies. The Commission has not addressed several internal control deficiencies to improve its operations. For example, the Commission's 2024 financial audit found an inadequate budget approval process, but a senior Commission official said the Commission could not fully address that deficiency without additional skilled personnel, and they do not have a plan to hire those personnel. In addition, the Commission has not established processes to manage its risks, ensure it is complying with relevant laws and regulations, or address other deficiencies.
Since 2021, the Commission has sought, with limited success, oversight for a variety of alleged improprieties and personnel matters. Many federal agencies have an Inspector General (IG) to investigate such allegations, but the Commission lacks an IG and instead sought assistance from several third parties. The Commission received limited investigative support from an external IG and the Office of Special Counsel. However, the Commission was unable to secure assistance to investigate allegations of improper procurement activities against a senior official, who remained on paid administrative leave for more than 3 years. Given the Commission's challenges obtaining oversight support, it would benefit from having an IG designated in statute. The IG could be from a larger agency with related expertise and should be provided with appropriate resources to take on Commission oversight.
Why GAO Did This Study
In 2024, about 327,000 miners worked at nearly 12,700 U.S. mines. By law, U.S. mines must undergo routine inspections to ensure they meet federal health and safety standards. The Commission reviews legal disputes about violations of these standards. It has an $18 million budget and about 60 employees.
GAO was asked to review the Commission's operations and oversight. This report examines (1) how the Commission is addressing management weaknesses and (2) the challenges it has faced accessing independent oversight and options that exist to obtain support from an IG.
GAO reviewed Commission documents and external audits and interviewed agency officials and federal and industry stakeholders. GAO also assessed the Commission's performance against relevant federal laws, regulations, and internal control standards. In addition, GAO interviewed several investigative agencies, IGs, and other federal stakeholders about strategies for agencies to access independent oversight.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that Congress consider authorizing another agency's IG to also serve as the Commission's Inspector General. GAO is also making eight recommendations to the Commission to address management weaknesses, including those related to performance management, workforce planning, and other internal control deficiencies. The Commission agreed with GAO's recommendations and described planned actions to address them.
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should consider authorizing an appropriate federal agency's Office of Inspector General, such as the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, to provide independent audit and investigative oversight of the Commission. As part of this consideration, Congress should consider authorizing appropriate funding to support the additional resources, such as staff, required to conduct the work. | We will monitor congressional action to address this recommendation. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission establishes a process for managing the agency's performance—including defining goals, reliably measuring performance, and using performance information—that follows federal performance management guidance. The process should promote the participation of all senior leaders at the Commission and establish the Commission's goals and objectives in consultation with Congress and relevant stakeholders. The process should also provide the Commission the opportunity to identify the resources it needs to achieve its goals. (Recommendation 1) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Commission acknowledged the deficiencies of its past strategic planning efforts and performance goals and measures and said it will develop near-term performance goals and measures to facilitate progress toward its strategic goals, in line with federal law and following federal performance management guidance. It will also improve its case-related data, and - after developing a plan to address this recommendation - incorporate stakeholder feedback into the plan (including consultations with Congress, the Department of Labor, mine operators, and worker advocates). We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission develops written policies for reviewing and monitoring how the Commission spends its appropriated funds to promote their effective use. (Recommendation 2) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Commission said it has engaged shared service providers to ensure compliance with federal regulations, adjusted processes to ensure spending oversight, and plans to hire a financial manager with the requisite skills to create our recommended policies. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission develops a strategic workforce plan that identifies the critical areas of expertise—such as human capital, finance, and legal compliance—needed to achieve the Commission's goals and creates a strategy to address identified resource gaps. (Recommendation 3) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Chair plans to work with senior leadership to develop a plan that will address skill gaps related to human capital, finance, and legal compliance areas. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission creates comprehensive hiring and promotion policies that are consistent with leading practices and legal requirements. (Recommendation 4) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. It plans to create comprehensive hiring and promotion policies consistent with best practices and legal requirements. In addition, the Commission said that it will ensure supervisors receive required training on employment standards and best practices, including proper consideration of veterans' preference and equal employment opportunity guidelines. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission establishes a comprehensive enterprise risk management process to help the agency determine the most significant risks to achieving its goals and prioritize how to use its resources to address these risks. (Recommendation 5) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Commission said it would take corrective action by developing an enterprise risk management framework consistent with relevant federal guidance, and that the Chair will work to ensure the COO has access to the resources required to implement the framework in compliance with federal requirements. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should assign roles and responsibilities to ensure the Commission complies with relevant laws and regulations. (Recommendation 6) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Chair plans to work with senior leadership to ensure that roles and responsibilities are assigned, communicated, and understood to ensure legal compliance with relevant statutory and regulatory requirements. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission establishes a process to address internal control deficiencies—including those identified by third parties—through corrective action. (Recommendation 7) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Commission acknowledged its need to address internal control deficiencies and said it will establish a mechanism to initiate and monitor corrective action. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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| Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | The Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission should ensure that the Commission obtains employee feedback on an annual basis and posts the results publicly on the agency's website. (Recommendation 8) |
The Commission agreed with this recommendation. The Commission said it would take corrective action, including publicly posting the results on the agency's website. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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