Due to a recent court decision, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has again revised its workplace examination rule, 30 CFR §§ 56.18002, 57.18002, undoing revisions made in 2018 and returning it to its original form as issued in 2017.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced today that it would hold a public meeting on its recent Request for Information (RFI) on Respirable Silica (Quartz). That RFI, published on August 29, 2019, requests that stakeholders provide, by October 28, 2019, “information and data on feasible best practices” to protect miners from quartz in respirable dust.
Due to a recent court decision, metal/nonmetal mine operators are again facing the possibility of having to comply with two of the more onerous provisions of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) workplace examination rule, 30 C.F.R. §§ 56.18002, 57.18002, as it was originally issued in 2017. Those provisions concern the timing of when the examination must be performed and what adverse conditions must be recorded on the examination record.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) held its quarterly stakeholder call on May 2, 2019. MSHA began the discussion by reviewing the five fatalities that occurred in the first quarter of 2019. The agency then discussed best practices to prevent injuries in the event of a mobile equipment fire and reviewed upcoming training opportunities.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has begun a three-month pilot project to see if the agency and operators can reach a final resolution regarding citations at the informal health and safety conference stage.
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is back in business as it will soon have a quorum again to decide cases. The Commission plays an important role in mine safety and health law. The Commission establishes precedential case law when it decides appeals of administrative law judge decisions in Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) cases, including citation contests and discrimination cases.
On March 12, 2019, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral argument in United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union v. Mine Safety and Health Administration, USCA Case No. 18-1116.
The safety and health committee of the Nevada Mining Association (NMA) recently met with top Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials to discuss the safety of Nevada’s underground and surface metal/nonmetal mining operations.
On January 24, 2019, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) held its first Quarterly Stakeholder Call of the year.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) recently named Deputy Administrator for Coal Mine Safety and Health Timothy R. Watkins to fill the newly created MSHA position of administrator for Coal and Metal/Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health.
On October 16, 2018, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conducted a quarterly stakeholder conference call. Among the topics highlighted by MSHA were vehicle fire safety, in light of recent accidents in which fire suppression systems allegedly failed to function as intended, and a renewed emphasis on conveyor safety, which is part of MSHA’s powered haulage safety initiative.
On September 28, 2018, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) posted important updates to its enforcement guidance on the new final rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines. The new workplace examination rule technically went into effect on June 2, 2018, but MSHA delayed enforcement of the rule until October 1, 2018.
On August 30, 2018, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) lost its required quorum of three commissioners for deciding appeals from administrative law judge decisions.
On August 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) presented a webinar, “Safety Improvement Technologies for Mobile Equipment at Surface Mines, and for Belt Conveyors at Surface and Underground Mines.”
At a mining industry conference in June 2018, Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health David Zatezalo briefly described a plan to “blur the lines” between the traditional division of the agency into coal enforcement and metal/nonmetal enforcement.
Powered haulage accidents are the leading cause of fatalities in the mining industry. They accounted for 50 percent of the fatalities in 2017 and as of this writing, 57 percent of the fatalities in 2018 were powered haulage related.
On April 9, 2018, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will publish its final rule on “Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines” in the Federal Register.
After 41 years in the mining industry and three months as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, David Zatezalo, has begun to publicly outline his vision for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
On February 12, 2018, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) held its first stakeholder/quarterly training call of the year, which featured Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health David G. Zatezalo. During his opening remarks, Zatezalo expressed the agency’s commitment to operator outreach and training.
On February 6, 2018, during a session entitled “Reviewing the Policies and Priorities of the Mine Safety and Health Administration,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health David G. Zatezalo testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
With frantic negotiations continuing in the Senate—as of this writing—to find an agreement that will end the government shutdown, it is possible that this article is reaching you after a solution has been reached. Nonetheless, given the polarized nature of Congress and the very real possibility that we will find ourselves back in a stalemate in a few weeks, we thought it might be instructive to provide you with the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) shutdown contingency plan.
The House Financial Services Committee took a first step toward repeal of the mine safety disclosure requirements on November 15, 2017, with its approval of H.R. 4289. This bill proposes to eliminate the requirement instituted by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
By a vote of 52-46, on November 15, 2017, the United States Senate confirmed David G. Zatezalo to be the new Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health
On September 12, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published in the Federal Register two proposed rules on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines, reopening the rulemaking to consider two very limited changes.
President Trump has nominated a retired coal company executive to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta recently announced his appointment for the new interim Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced on May 22, 2017, that it is extending the effective date of the agency’s Final Rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines until October 2, 2017.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) held its quarterly stakeholder teleconference on April 25, 2017.
On March 27, 2017, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a proposed rule to delay the effective date for its Final Rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines from May 23, 2017, to July 24, 2017.
On January 23, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued its Final Rule for Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines. In light of the White House’s regulatory freeze on new rules, questions have arisen as to whether the effective date for this final rule would be delayed 60 days, into July.
