"We Are ... MSHA"

you Mining what would we do without it dedicated miners work in every state and territory day and night to produce fuel and materials to keep the lights on to construct roads bridges and buildings to grow our food and to manufacture the countless items we need and use mining has always been a hazardous occupation from the beginning our nation's miners have faced dangers from roof Falls machinery explosions of gas and dust blasting fires and floods you are right if you think that mining is a tough dangerous job this is why the Mine Safety and Health Administration MSHA is here we are part of the US Department of Labor our job is to help improve workplace safety and health conditions for everyone who works in our nation's mines big and small surface and underground coal and metal nonmetal this sounds like a big assignment and it is federal mine safety and health law has grown along with the American mining industry farmington west virginia november 20th 1968 an explosion spread by coal dust and gas rips through nine working sections of the mines westside 78 miners died in the blast and 21 survivors make their way to the surface congress moved quickly to pass the federal coal mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 legislation based on the belief that the first priority and concern of all in the coal mining industry must be the help and safety of its most precious resource the miner the sunshine mine a metal operation near Kellogg Idaho caught fire on May 2nd 1972 gas and smoke killed 91 miners who were working inside 81 others were evacuated from the mine and two more were rescued a week later the federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 combined coal and metal nonmetal Mine health and safety law into one piece of legislation the law that is on the books today the Act requires our inspectors to inspect underground mines in their entirety four times per year and surface mines twice per year to make sure they meet M sha standards for safety and health there are many standards let's find out about a few of them at a surface mine the inspector looks at things such as structures machinery impoundments ground conditions truck haulage and explosives and blasting at underground mines our inspector examines roof and ground conditions ventilation electricity haulage and blasting inspectors take health samples at mines to check for potential hazards from conditions such as dust and noise if an MSHA inspector finds an unsafe or unhealthy condition the law requires that it be corrected sometimes we find a problem that's an immediate threat to safety and health if this occurs the affected area in the mine is closed or the equipment involved is removed from service and the miners leave the area until the condition is fixed there's a lot more to safety and health and enforcement we help people address safety and health concerns where they happen at the mine site engineers scientists and industrial hygienists from our technical support staff work with miners and mining companies to look at different problems and suggest ways to solve them some of these concerns include safe design and maintenance of mining equipment and machinery roofs support or ventilation systems in underground mines and ground control at surface operations we also look at mined waste disposal facilities and measurement and control of miners exposure to help hazards such as dust noise and radiation we investigate instruments equipment materials and explosives to make sure that they are safe to use in mines MSHA strongly encourages the American mining community to join in a number of cooperative programs to work together to solve safety and health problems agreements with other government agencies and colleges and universities as well as mining groups from other countries are in place to help make sure that we are part of an active and effective the safety team up-to-date and useful training is vital since mining occurs in a hazardous ever-changing environment where there is little room for error MSHA requires each u.s. mine operator to have an approved plan for miner training new underground miners with no underground mining experience get 40 hours of basic safety and health training before they start to work underground new surface miners who have no surface mining experience receive 24 hours of basic safety and health training before they start work at a surface operation all miners get eight hours of refresher safety and health training every year minors assigned to new jobs get safety related tasks training the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver West Virginia is the world's largest institution devoted to safety and health in mining it is a central training facility for federal mine inspectors and mine safety professionals from MSHA other government agencies the mining industry and labor the Academy in addition to presenting classes produces and distributes a wide variety of mine safety training programs so what's ahead America's mines produce more material than ever before sophisticated machinery and equipment let's miners work in areas that are often very difficult and dangerous mining technology changes constantly and every mine is unique this is why inspection technical and engineering assistance and training are all important parts of our safety work we will continue to address safety problems technology and safety will continue to go hand in hand in the mining industry all of our programs and activities have one common goal to prevent injuries illnesses and fatalities at our nation's minds with the cooperation of miners and mine managers we are working to make America's mines safer and healthier places in which to work we are MSHA Oh

Channel: PublicResourceOrg

Views: 60,518

Keywords: msha.gov, public.resource.org

Id: VEOVVx3rDyI

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 05 2008