Mine Safety Official Retiring After Ethics Probe, Watchdog Says

A top federal mine safety official will retire by year end as part of an agreement with the Department of Labor following an ethics investigation into her ownership of stock in a company that creates wearable technology required by mine operators to supply, a watchdog reported.

Two whistleblowers alleged that Patricia Silvey, deputy assistant secretary of the US Mine Safety and Health Administration, owned stock in Thermo Fisher Scientific, the sole manufacturer of continuous personal dust monitors, when she led work on a regulation requiring use of the monitors by miners, according to the Office of Special Counsel.

MSHA requires ...