MSHA

For the first time in the agency's history, the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) went to federal court to ask that a dangerous coal mine be shut down until it fixes its safety problems once and for all. In its official complaint to the U.S.district court for the eastern district of Kentucky, the agency refers to Section 108(a)(2) saying:Massey Energy's Freedom Mine #1 is "engaged in a pattern of violation of mandatory health and safety standards that, in the Secretary's judgment, constitute a continuing hazard to the health or safety of miners." MSHA's new…
It's that time of year, when the Secretary of Labor is supposed to outline her rulemaking priorities for next 12 months. This would include new proposal to protect mine workers, like the 64 killed already this year, and the tens of thousands made ill by inadequate OSHA standards on exposure to chemicals. The Presidential Executive Order governing this process dictates that agencies' regulatory plans be published in October. Last year the Obama Administration didn't release its plan until December, but I chalked that delay to the stalled Senate confirmation of the President's reg czar,…
Melissa Lee's life changed forever on May 20, 2006 when her husband Jimmy, 33 was killed, along with four other workers, in an explosion at the Kentucky Darby coal mine. Afterwards, she not only had four sons to raise without a dad, but as soon as Melissa started speaking up to demand mine safety improvements, she was harassed and threatened by defenders of coal mine operators. Four years since her husband's death, Melissa is still speaking up, this time in a campaign ad running in Kentucky's 6th district in support of Congressman Ben Chandler (D-KY). The incumbent is in a tight race…
Estevan R. Benavidez's family says he was a happy-to-lucky, 20 year old. He graduated from Miami (AZ) High School in 2008, was a talented tattoo artist, liked to fish, eat junk food, and spend time with his young daughter. On January 9, 2010 he was working for Ames Construction as a laborer at the Freeport McMoRan copper mine in his hometown. He reported to work at 6:30 am, but he never made it home alive. Benavidez was working with several other men to construct a new reservoir at the surface copper mine. The large lined reservoir holds a sulfuric acid mix used to extract the copper…
Ever since the Reagan Administration, the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has been reviewing rules proposed by federal agencies. These regulations might come from the Dept of Energy (DOE) on efficiency standards for home refrigerators, HHS rule on premarket safety report for drugs or devices, or the Dept of Transportation (DOT) on limiting the use of wireless devices by commercial drivers. Presidential Executive Order (EO) 12866, issued in 1993 by President Clinton, is the instrument that grants…
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is preparing to propose new regulations to protect coal mine workers from the respirable dust hazards that cause black lung disease. In May, the Labor Department's regulatory agenda indicated that MSHA would propose a rule in September. The White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) completed its review of the rule, deemed to be economically significant, on September 29. The proposal was returned to MSHA from OIRA with the notation that it is approved "consistent with change." Depending on the complexity of…
MSHA announced today that it will be issuing on September 23 an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to improve a practice to prevent coal dust explosions. The rule addresses "rock dusting"----the decades old practice of generously applying pulverized limestone dust throughout a coal mine to dilute the potential power of a coal dust explosion. As NIOSH's Man and Teacoach explain:"...the rock dust disperses, mixes with the coal dust and prevents flame propagation by acting as a thermal inhibitor or heat sink; i.e., the rock dust reduces the flame temperature to the point where devolatilization…
Updated (8/15/10 2:00 pm EST) below Mine rescue teams continue their search to rescue or recover two workers struck by a "large surge of pressure" as they were being lowered into a mine shaft at Barrick's Meikle mine near Elko, Nevada. As the Associated Press reports, the incident occurred on Thursday, August 12 at 1:15 am local time. As of 2:00 pm (EST) on August 13, MSHA did not have information on its website about the incident. An inspection by three federal mine inspectors of Barrick's Meikle mine was ongoing at the time of the incident. (Like underground coal mines, other underground…
Thanks to Frank Gallagher blogging at FireDogLake for providing us the quote of the day courtesy of WYMT-TV in eastern Kentucky. In "US Chamber of Commerce goes astroturfing to sink miner safety bill," he writes about the front-group sponsored by the Chamber and other business groups to oppose legislation to improve federal worker safety laws. (I blogged yesterday about the goup.) Gallagher writes: WYMT-TV, out of Kentucky...covered the proceedings and featured Mr. Snare in their story, identifying him as not as a representative of the Coalition For Workplace Safety, but instead as a…
The Mine Safety and Health Administration took an important step yesterday to meet a goal set in the Labor Secretary's regulatory agenda: proposing a rule to prevent black lung disease. According to data on RegInfo.gov MSHA submitted yesterday a proposed rule entitled "Lowering Miners' Exposure to Coal Mine Dust Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors"to OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Typically, OIRA will take 60-90 days to complete their review. Mine workers in the U.S. continue to develop debilitating lung diseases from exposure to respirable coal and…
Cong. George Miller (D-CA) is a man of tough talk and swift action. Today, along with 15 other House members, he introduced H.R. 5663 a bill to upgrade provisions of our nation's key federal workplace health and safety laws. Every year, tens of thousands of workers are killed and made ill because of on-the-job hazards, and this year the toll of death made headline news. The Deepwater Horizon disaster and the Upper Big Branch mine explosion alone cut short the lives of 40 workers, with their coworkers' and families' lives changed forever. H.R. 5663 will modernize whistleblower protections…
MSHA took another step toward openness by posting on its website the "preliminary report of accident" form for the most recent fatal injury incidents at US mining operations. The MSHA Form 7000-13 is the first record made by agency personnel when they are notified of a worker death, serious injury or other reportable event such as roof falls and inundations. I've always appreciated that MSHA attempts to post within 2-3 weeks some information on its website about recent fatalities--in the form of "Fatalgrams"----but the 7000-13 reports are a terrific addition. I think some credit may be due…
As Coal Tattoo reports in "MSHA lost a major 'pattern of violation' case against Massey," the federal mine safety agency was foiled in its effort to place Massey Energy's Tiller No.1 mine on a pattern of violations. This particular underground coal mine is located in Tazewell, Virginia and had dozens of S&S citations for violating mandatory health and safety standards. S&S violations are NOT nit-picky offenses that you'd shrug your shoulders at---they are serious infractions with a reasonable likelihood that a worker could suffer a serious injury, even death. MSHA inspectors had…
I can't keep up with Ken Ward Jr.'s coverage of the trouble brewing, battle, strong difference of opinion between Secretary Hilda Solis/MSHA Asst. Secretary Joe Main and the United Mine Workers (UMWA), family members of deceased coal miners and journalists about the Department of Labor's decision to have closed-door interviews of witnesses as part of the Massey Upper Big Branch disaster investigation. Lest you think the press and blogs are the only way to take the pulse of the public, think again. Mr. Dennis O'Dell, the current UMWA H&S director, is sharing his disgust about MSHA's…
As I noted in "Perplexed by OSHA's reg agenda," I've made a habit of commenting on the content of the Dept of Labor's semi-annual regulatory agenda [see links below]. I'll be the first to admit that our system for protecting workers from well-known hazards with new regulations is onerous and anything but nimble. It needs an overhaul. The obstacles, roadblacks and challenges plague OSHA, but these administrative and burden-of-proof hurdles DO NOT apply to MSHA. Here are just two examples of what I mean: MSHA merely has to demonstrate that its decision is not arbitrary and capricious; a…
Last week Labor Secretary Solis released in the Federal Register on April 26, 2010, her Spring 2010 regulatory agenda for the Department, including her rulemaking priorities for MSHA and OSHA. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act it was published on time in April, in contrast to her Fall 2009 agenda which was six weeks late. This document is described by the Secretary as a: "...listing of all the regulations it expects to have under active consideration for promulgation, proposal, or review during the coming 1-year period. The focus of all departmental regulatory activity will be…