How bout these apples, fallin out of da tree so late?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A month before the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, a Massey Energy worker admitted that he had used what turned out to be a forged foreman's card when he conducted hundreds of mine safety checks at the Raleigh County operation, the Sunday Gazette-Mail has learned.

Thomas Harrah of Seth performed at least 228 pre-shift, on-shift and conveyor belt safety examinations at Upper Big Branch over a nearly two-year period from January 2008 to August 2009, according to state records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Later, state investigators learned that Harrah was using a certification number that actually belonged to another individual. By then, though, Harrah had started using another certification number -- again belonging to a different individual -- and was performing safety checks at another Massey operation, the Slip Ridge Cedar Grove Mine, in August 2009, state records show.

Harrah had a state license to work as an underground coal miner, but he failed the test to become a certified mine foreman. Mine foremen not only supervise other workers, they also perform important safety checks and sign required reports meant to document that any problems discovered are corrected before miners go to work.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201012120034

On March 9, 2010, the state Coal Mine Safety Board of Appeals suspended Harrah's underground miner license for a year, rejecting a proposal from the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training to permanently bar Harrah from working underground in West Virginia.

Last week, some federal and state officials looking into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster said they had not previously heard details of Harrah's case.