Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph Main recently visited three coal mines to catch up on the latest mining technology put in place by Consol Energy and Alpha Natural Resources.

Mine Safety and Health Administration personnel conducting a special impact inspection at a Kentucky coal mine found more than they expected.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) should enforce a law requiring manufacturers of coal slag abrasive to disclose that their product contains dangerous levels of beryllium, Public Citizen said in a letter sent yesterday to OSHA enforcement director Thomas Galassi.

Seventeen Chinese miners died last month at the Anping coal mine in southwest Guizhou province, as a new wave of coal mine explosions, cave-ins, and floods hit the country’s mining industry.

A coal mine employee killed while removing a fuel tank/counter weight from a Caterpillar end loader died because proper work procedures were not followed, according to an investigation just concluded by the Mine Safety and Health Admininstration (MSHA).

While many workers have to take steps to avoid frostbite and hypothermia during the winter, miners face an even greater danger: explosions. Statistics show that coal-mine explosions occur most often during the colder months, October through March.