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The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has overturned a decision by Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Jerold Feldman involving Wolf [...]

Reversing a rise in mine fatalities at metal and nonmetal operations and reducing coal miners' respirable dust exposure that can cause black lung are among key commitments for the Mine [...]

The US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued an information bulletin on the meaning of the phrase 'significant and substantial' contained in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The phrase's meaning is that violations related to the safety in the mining industry could significantly and substantially (S&S) contribute to the cause and effect of a mining or health hazard. An S&S designation received by a mining operator will merit higher civil penalty under the Act. Mine closure orders may also be issued by the MSHA., Recently, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a program information bulletin announcing that MSHA is asserting a new meaning of the phrase 'significant and substantial' as it appears [...]

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) put Coal River Mining LLC's Fork Creek No. 1 mine in Lincoln County, W.Va., on notice of a pattern of violations (POV) of [...]

For the first time since its new Pattern of Violations (POV) rule took effect in March, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced in October that it placed three [...]

The goal of the safety and health laws administered by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has always been described as securing a safe workplace for our nation's miners. [...]

On January 17, the U.S. Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) issued a final rule that revises the agency's pattern of violations (POV) regulations (30 CFR, Title 104), which became [...]

MSHA anticipates publishing a final, new coal dust regulation in June 2013. A new exposure limit, proposed in October 2010, contemplates a 50% reduction from the current exposure limit (2 [...]

Safety-conscious mine operators train their employees to report potential hazards. Yet, such reports can sometimes lead to one of the most contentious and sensitive issues mine operators have to handle: [...]

Fine amounts for two violations increasing: MSHA has raised penalty amounts for two specific violations. One is an 8.3 percent fine increase against operators who've allegedly committed unwarrantable failures - [...]

On January 17, 2013, MSHA announced a final rule revising MSHA's Pattern of Violations (POV) regulations in 30 C.F.R. Part 104. According to MSHA, 'the final rule simplifies the existing [...]

The proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) could prevent or lessen the severity of injuries. It is thus important to put on such equipment,whether during simple jobs or dangerous tasks. Safety administrators must educate and emphasize to workers the importance of safety equipment such as hard hats, steel toed shoes, safety glasses, face shields and body harnesses. They must keep workers safety conscious and urge them to use protective equipment on a regular basis., That equipment you are required to put on just might save your life. When one reads accounts of accidents in the aggregates industry, some seem too sensational to be true: [...]

An inspection June 17-18,2003 and issued four citations. On August 20-21, 2003, the inspector returned to investigate a complaint that had been reported by telephone. During the complaint investigation, he [...]

The elections are over and the new Congress is soon to be sworn in. Given that the president was re-elected and the Congress appears to be almost a carbon copy [...]

Any enforcement action can trigger document retention and production duties that management should understand. For example, if you receive an MSHA citation, document retention is paramount in the event you [...]

The Mine Safety and Health Administration's final rule 'Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards,' which was published April 6, 2012, [...]

Despite a number of challenges confronting the mining industry over the past two and a half years, including the worst coal mine disaster in four decades, the actions being taken [...]

On March 27, 2012, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, Joe Main, spoke before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the [...]

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) introduced the Mine Safety Accountability and Improved Protection Act (H.R. 3697) in the wake of the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) recent report on [...]

After a three-week idling due to high carbon monoxide levels in December, Montana's Signal Peak longwall mine was back in operation and again trying to ramp up production as 2011 [...]

Cigarette smoking is especially dangerous in mines and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has come out with new laws prohibiting underground smoking. However, the new MSHA regulations do not fully address the problem of miners who deliberately go underground with smoking materials. Moreover, the agency's efforts to inform the mining community of the extremely hazardous nature of underground smoking are inadequate.

The adage that 'bad facts make bad law' is as old as the law itself. But in an extraordinarily rare turn of events, 'catastrophic facts' have made law that is [...]

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a proposed rule requiring continuous mining machines used in underground coal mines be equipped with proximity detection systems. Proximity detection refers to [...]

A hazard or a suspected hazard can be looked at in at least two ways. The two-way idea is not pure. There is forward in the backward and backward in [...]