The Birth of MSHA and the Federal Mine Safety Act
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was created when the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act (known in the mining world as “the Act”) was signed into law in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. The purpose of the law was made clear in the opening lines, where it states that “the first priority and concern of all in the coal or other mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource–the miner;” (Section 2(a)). From that point on, the Act requires the establishment of “mandatory health and safety standards and to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Secretary of Labor to develop and promulgate improved mandatory health or safety standards to protect the health and safety of the Nation’s coal or other miners;” (Section 2(g)). Mining regulations existed prior to MSHA’s creation, but the Act changed the relationship between the Federal government and the mining industry in the same way the OSH Act did when OSHA was created in 1971.
A Brief History of Mining and Mine Safety in the U.S.
The mining industry in the United States is much older than the country itself. English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia mined iron ore in the early 1600s to make metal tools. Subsequently, the first gold mine opened in North Carolina in 1799 after a young boy discovered a massive gold nugget while playing in a creek. And then, of course, coal mining boomed in the mid-1800s as the US industrialized and began producing steel and building railroads. The earliest mining regulations were not written by the federal government, but rather by the states. Pennsylvania, which was the biggest coal producing state at the time, was responsible for most of these laws. In fact, it was Pennsylvania that first required ventilation systems in coal mines following the Civil War. The Federal government did not begin taking an active role in mining regulations until 1891, when the Bureau of Mines was created. Now, for the first time, the Federal government was involved in mine safety, although mostly just with technical support and research.
Centralizing Mine Safety Standards Under Title 30 CFR
What changed in 1977, was that existing regulations were consolidated, updated and put in one central location: Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Additionally, new regulations were written, and now federal mine inspectors could not only write citations, but they had the ability to hold the mine operators accountable. Up until the end of World War 2, a mine operator could turn away a federal mining inspector for no reason. But with the Act becoming law 30 years later, not only could a mine inspector enter any mine in the US, but they could issue citations to mines and even hold those in management criminally negligent for serious safety and health violations.
Breaking Down Title 30 of the CFR
Title 30 of the CFR is divided into multiple parts. It begins with Part 1 which has the official emblem of MSHA and ends with Part 104 which covers “Pattern of Violations”. Parts 46 to Part 49 cover Education and Training, Part 50 regulates reporting requirements, Part 56 to Part 58 cover Metal and Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health, Part 70 to Part 90 cover Coal Safety and Health and I could keep going. And inside each one of these sections are pages and pages of rules and regulations.
Mine Safety Compliance Challenges in the Real World
This can be very overwhelming to someone new to the industry, who is unfamiliar with how to stay in compliance on a mine site. Even experienced mine safety professionals can have questions about how they are expected to comply with regulations or how a regulation is going to be enforced by an inspector. For example, 30 CFR Part 48.9 covers Records and Training. 48.9 (a) states that “Upon a miner’s completion of each MSHA approved training program, the operator shall record and certify on MSHA form 5000-23 that the miner has received the specified training. A copy of the training certificate shall be given to the miner at the completion of the training.” While that regulation is written clearly, if you are not familiar with what a 5000-23 form is and/or how it needs to be completed where can you go to get more information?
Using the Program Policy Manual to Support Mine Safety
I have written before, in my article titled “MSHA Doesn’t Just Write Tickets,” about all the resources that MSHA has available. From the Educational Field and Small Mine Services (EFSMS), to the annual TRAM conference in West Virginia. However, there is another resource which is just as helpful: MSHA’s Program Policy Manual (PPM). MSHA first created the PPM manual in 1983 as resource both for mine inspectors to use when interpreting regulations and for miner’s and mine operators to better understand what is expected of them. There are five PPM volumes: Volume 1 is Enforcement of the 1977 Act, Volume 2 is Testing and Evaluation, Volume 3 is 30 CFR Parts 40 Through 50 And Parts 62 And 100, Volume 4 is Metal and Nonmetal Mines and Volume 5 is Coal Mines.
How the PPM Answers Real-World Mine Safety Questions
If we go back to our question from Part 48,9(a) about how to complete a 5000-23, we can use the PPM to get our answer. We know that the regulation in question is from Part 48, so we can look at the five PPM volumes and see that we need to look in Volume 3 for the answer. The volumes are numerically organized the same way as the CFR, so when you look in Volume 3 under 48.9, there is a page and a half explanation of the one paragraph regulation. And the PPM gives us our answer: “Each time a miner completes an MSHA approved training program, the operator must initial and date the form to certify that the miner has received the specified training. Initialing and dating can be done in the space on the form adjacent to the type of training.”
Final Thoughts on Mine Safety Resources
What is required to work on a mine site can seem confusing and intimidating to someone new to the industry. Even a miner who has mining experience but has moved into a leadership role will have questions. MSHA has a variety of resources as I have discussed before, but the Program Policy Manual is one of the most useful. And it is a living document that gets updated as new questions emerge or new technology becomes available. You can find the 5 PPM volumes on the msha.gov webpage under the “Regulations” tab in the “Policies and Procedures” section. Let’s take the time to use the resources that MSHA provides so that we can keep our miners safe and healthy.
About the Author: John Fowler
John Fowler is a Certified Safety Professional and a Certified Mine Safety Professional who has worked on projects ranging from offshore oil/gas platforms in Alaska to surface and underground mines in the western US. You can contact John at john.m.fowler@gmail.com.