Red Oak Man Pleads Guilty To Mining Safety Violation

NewsOn6.com

MUSKOGEE, Oklahoma -- A Red Oak man entered a guilty plea in federal court to a charge of failure to provide new miner training, according to Sheldon J. Sperling, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Gregory Bryce, 50, knowingly allowed miners to work without first receiving the required number of hours of introductory training, according to an investigation by the District 9 Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The investigation found that Bryce failed to provide the training in November, 2007, while working as a mine superintendent for Farrell-Cooper Mining Company.

"Untrained miners are a hazard to themselves and to those working around them. Assigning untrained miners to work is to invite an accident, and the devastating consequences which often result," said Gregory R. Wagner, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Bryce's guilty plea was accepted by Judge Steven P. Shreder at the Federal Courthouse in Muskogee. Sentencing guidelines are not more than one year imprisonment and up to a $100,000 in fines.