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).
Human error is often cited as the main cause for up to 80 percent of all incidents and accidents in complex high-risk systems that exist in the aviation, petrochemical, healthcare, construction, mining, and nuclear power industries, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (www.nerc.com).
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration’s inspectors issued 213 citations, 23 orders and one safeguard during special impact inspections conducted at nine coal mines and five metal/nonmetal mines last month.
One of the agency's "toughest" enforcement actions
October 29, 2013
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has put three mining operations on notice of a pattern of violations of mandatory health or safety standards under Section 104(e) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.
An editorial in the New York Times last week praised the work of federal prosecutors in West Virginia for their pursuit of justice in their investigation into the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy. Those prosecutors deserve the praise. However, the editorial misses an important point.
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 MX6 Refuge Chamber Kit is the first MSHA-approved portable gas detection solution for the monitoring of gases in mine refuge chambers
September 16, 2013
Industrial Scientific, the leading provider of Gas Detection as a Service, announced today the availability of the MX6 Refuge Chamber Kit for use in monitoring hazardous gases inside and outside of mine refuge chambers during emergency situations.
MSHA inspectors turn up a variety of violations in July
August 30, 2013
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said its inspectors issued 149 citations and 16 orders during special impact inspections conducted at nine coal mines and four metal/nonmetal mines last month.
OSHA backs down from proposed changes to its On-Site Consultation Program, good news about U.S. mining fatality rates and reasons why some construction workers don’t report injuries are among the top EHS-related stories featured this week on ISHN.com:
The number of U.S. miners killed in underground coal roof falls has been dramatically reduced since 2007, and fatalities resulting from retreat mining have been virtually eliminated, according to figures from the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).