Items Tagged with 'mine safety'

Layoffs and an office closure affect the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the independent body responsible for reviewing mine safety enforcement disputes and whistleblower cases.

The self-audit programs, which include new and updated offerings, aim to enhance worker protections while reducing the likelihood of formal investigation or litigation.  

Even as coal mining has shrunk, the potential dangers for people who still work in the field remain high. One in 10 underground coal miners who worked in mines for at least 25 years had black lung, according to a NIOSH report in 2018. In Central Appalachia, one of the main coal mining regions in the U.S., the rate was 1 in 5.

MSHA will award these grants as part of its fiscal year 2023 State Grants program.

In late 2019, a plant electrician with 15 years of mining experience was electrocuted when he contacted an energized connection of a 4,160 VAC electrical circuit. Two more mining fatalities by electrocution have occurred since. The electrocution deaths prompted the MSHA to issue a safety alert.