Nine U.S. miners lost their lives in work-related accidents from July 1 to Sept. 30 – two fewer than for the third quarter of 2012. Those figures were among the information released recently by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
OSHA will not be conducting most of its planned workplace safety inspections for the duration of the federal government shutdown, due to a partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Poor design lead to deaths of six miners, three rescue workers
September 27, 2013
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today that it submitted a settlement between MSHA and Agapito Associates Inc. in the August 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine disaster to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is requesting data, comments and information about refuge alternatives for miners in underground coal mines.
Black lung disease rates going in the wrong direction
August 6, 2013
Frustrated by rulemaking foot-dragging on the part of the Obama administration, West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller has introduced a bill that would impose a deadline on the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for finalizing a proposal to reduce respirable dust limits in mines.
Figures released Wednesday by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) revealed that 2012 had the lowest fatality and injury rates in the history of U.S. mining, along with the lowest rate of contractor fatalities since the agency began calculating those rates in 1983.
Court orders company to drop suit against fired employee
July 9, 2013
An administrative law judge has ruled that a Madisonville, Ky., mining company violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 when it sued a miner for filing a discrimination complaint with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) following his job termination.
Regulation came after multiple-fatality mine disasters
July 8, 2013
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently upheld a decision that the failure to maintain emergency lifelines in a manner for miners to use effectively is a significant and substantial violation of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, regardless of the likelihood of a mine emergency actually occurring at the time of the violation.
A mine worker who died because of a missing part on a circuit breaker was the subject of a $211,002 settlement reached last month with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the U.S. Lime Co., the worker’s employer.
After a flurry of legal activity, a miner who was fired from a California rare earth minerals operation after complaining about unsafe working conditions has been reinstated – temporarily. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says the employee, who spoke out about various safety issues at the mine, had refused to work on a sodium carbonate tank until the operator provided him with a material safety data sheet so he would know what to do in the event of overexposure.