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Margo Lopez, shareholder of the Washington, D.C., office at Ogletree Deakins, is a regular contributor to Pit & Quarry whose practice is concentrated in safety and health law and litigation. [...]

Wehear from operators and miners all the time that 'MSHA never changes.' Usually, that type of comment is based in frustration and focused on an inconsistent citation, an unusual interpretation [...]

Pinch-point guarding for return rolls is currently at a level of importance never before seen in the industry. Although the Mine Safety & Health Administration's Guide to Equipment Guarding and [...]

In a 2-1 decision in January, the Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission shed additional light on what is and is not a flagrant violation. In Northshore Mining, the [...]

On Oct. 9, 2019, the White House issued Executive Order No. 13891, titled 'Promoting the Rule of Law through Improved Agency Guidance Documents.' The focus of the executive order was [...]

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is no longer seeking to reform the system by which civil penalties are assessed against mining operations, the National Stone, Sand & Gravel [...]

Workplace exams. The crystalline silica rule. Diesel exhaust monitoring. These are among the regulatory areas the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) is monitoring as the executive branch of [...]

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) announced a proposed regulation to amend workplace examination requirements. The regulation, titled 'Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines,' proposes expanded [...]

Industrial mineral producers are showing concern over possibly stricter regulations on crystalline silica. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has already ruled a 0.1 mg/m3 exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica while the Mine Safety and Health Administration has recommended the labeling of products containing respirable silica. The present and future regulations will affect the sale of many mineral commodities since crystalline silica occurs in quite a number of industrial minerals.

Acommon complaint we hear about Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) enforcement is that the agency keeps changing the meaning of its regulations without submitting the matter to notice and [...]

A number of things can be said about MSHA penalties and the effects that penalty assessment procedures have on mine operators. Penalties are part of a company's reputation. If an [...]

MSHA conducted its first hearing on proposed changes to civil penalty regulations on Dec. 4. MSHA wants to decrease operator challenges to penalties and limit operator opportunities to have penalties [...]

MSHA is under pressure to audit mine operator reports of accidents, injuries and illnesses. The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a report in March that notes [...]

Afew weeks before the new workplace examination rule was slated to go into effect, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) finally opened a proposed rulemaking. Mine operators expected this [...]

There are about 14,000 mine facilities (including mineral milling operations) in the United States. These businesses utilize all sorts of outside services and continually bring nonmining companies onto their properties [...]

In past articles, I have mentioned that MSHA regulations requiring protective guarding of moving machinery are cited more than any other standard at surface metal and nonmetal plants. The basic [...]

Mine operators, miners, their families and the press will no longer be able to get MSHA inspector notes from a mine inspection, unless the operator or miner is willing to [...]

An MSHA inspector had jurisdiction to issue citations because a haul truck driver had climbed on top of a truck, even though the truck was located near an OSHA-inspected aggregate [...]

Too many accidents occur from falls from elevated locations, but what is an elevated location? Typically, most people think of any place where a person could fall many feet through [...]

A control room supervisor and a production superintendent agreed to pay in full MSHA's proposed penalties totaling $1,500 for their 'knowing' violations of the safe access standard. Both men work [...]

Question: When does a $60 civil penalty from MSHA become $1,000? Answer: When MSHA says you have an 'excessive history' of violations, this is exactly what can happen. A mine [...]

If your visible emissions ever become, well, visible, then most likely you are open for potentially damaging results. Between the federal and state regulatory requirements and the potential problems with [...]

The only difference between a jump and a fall is how it starts. It is common for miners to jump from the back of a pickup. It's a short distance. [...]

* MSHA has issued a proposed rule addressing miners' exposure to diesel particulate matter (DPM) in underground metal and nonmetal mining operations. The agency also announced that public hearings on [...]

The current administration has established a goal of providing assistance to stone, sand and gravel producers and other mine operators in the form of instructions and written materials aimed at [...]

As of press time, MSHA had plans to adjust most of its fines under Part 100 of its regulations by about 10 percent to account for inflation, effective April 11. [...]

MSHA has agreed to reduce a sand and gravel company's penalty for a violation of an equipment maintenance rule from $17,500 to $8,310 in a case arising from a fatal [...]

Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission Judge Richard W. Manning held that MSHA must turn over to Aggregates Industries MSHA's Special Assessment Review Form, which the agency used to [...]

From the prospective of most mine operators, MSHA enforcement is judged primarily by what happens at their own operations. Some see a very formidable agency continually meting out strong enforcement [...]

The theft of 15 detonator caps from a bullet-proof storage shed at the L.G. Everist Quarry in Dell Rapids, S.D., is being taken very seriously by the FBI, ATF and [...]

[C] As of press time, MSHA had plans to adjust most of its fines under Part 100 of its regulations by about 10 percent to account for inflation, effective April [...]

A heavy industrial contractor's refusal to pay an equipment operator for his time spent in MSHA refresher training was discriminatory under the Mine Act, a Review Commission judge ruled. Judge [...]

MSHA has jurisdiction over safety and health at mines. OSHA has jurisdiction over just about everything else. End of story? Not exactly. There are many facets to the differences between [...]

According to Mine Safety and Health News, parts of MSHA's regulation governing explosives and blasting for Metal/Nonmetal may be invalid due to the agency citing Department of Transportation regulations that [...]

MSHA has released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for its health rule governing diesel particulate matter exposure of underground metal and nonmetal miners. The ANPRM is the first [...]

MSHA has said it will issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) soon to solicit comments from stakeholders on various issues relating to its regulation on Diesel Particulate Matter [...]

MSHA will begin enforcing its new Hazard Communication (HazCom) regulation on Sept. 23 for mine sites with more than five employees. The agency recently issued a directive allowing operators to [...]

MSHA began enforcing its new Hazard Communication (HazCom) regulation on Sept. 23 for mine sites with more than five employees. The agency recently issued a directive allowing operators to conduct [...]

* MSHA stays portions of its regulation on Diesel Particulate Matter Exposure of Underground Metal and Nonmetal Miners. Provisions of the stay reflect a settlement agreement approved by the agency [...]

A Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) final rule designed to reduce injuries and illnesses related to chemicals in the mining industry appears in the Federal Register. The Hazard Communication [...]

* The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek comments on various asbestos-related issues prior to revising its regulation on [...]

Review Commission Judge Richard W. Manning fined a small sand and gravel operator $1,000 for denying entry to an MSHA inspector and also assessed penalties totaling $275 for violations of [...]

The Review Commission's chief judge, David F. Barbour, assessed penalties totaling $985 for 20 violations of Part 56 standards at Tide Creek Rock Inc.'s small, family owned crushed stone operation [...]

After negotiations between industry stakeholders and MSHA, the agency has agreed to stay the July 2002 implementation date of its interim 400 [micro]g/m3 PEL for diesel particulate matter (DPM). The [...]

In prior articles, I have discussed the most frequently cited MSHA violations. In this article, OSHA's top 10 violations are reviewed and compared to MSHA enforcement. While MSHA's and OSHA's [...]

[C] At MSHA, 13 regulations on the books from previous regulatory calendars have been withdrawn. Of these, nine directly impact aggregates: confined spaces; metal/nonmetal impoundments; surface haulage; electrical grounding standards; [...]

[C] MSHA will delay the effective date of its interim final HazCom (Hazardous Communication) Rule that was scheduled to go into effect Oct. 3. [C] NSSGA has filed extensive technical [...]

The one-year grace period MSHA had granted operators who fall under the agency's new Part 46 safety- and health-training regulation expired on Sept. 30. During the grace period, financial penalties [...]