MSHA is reporting that three miners have been permanently disabled since the beginning of 2024 because of rotating conveyor rollers. Serious and fatal injuries occur when miners clean or adjust conveyor rollers, pulleys and idlers while the belt is in motion. Injuries vary from broken bones to loss of fingers, hands and arms. Some accidents have resulted in fatal injuries. …
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MSHA Tackles Social Media
Right Now, MSHA Isn’t Reaching Many People Via Social Media In Any Category, And I Doubt That’ll Change Anytime Soon. By Brian Hendrix Do you follow MSHA on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter? Are you Facebook friends with MSHA? Have you downloaded MSHA’s “Miner Safety and Health App”? If you answered “yes” to any of those…
Read MoreMSHA Alert: Truck Dumping Safety
Feb. 5, 2024 – MSHA reported that on Jan. 2, the driver of an over the road tractor-trailer haul truck died when the trailer tipped over onto the cab of the tractor. The driver was dumping part of the load of gravel from the trailer. Between 2018 and 2024, mine operators reported 14 injury accidents where over the road trucks tipped…
Read MoreMSHA’S New Safety Program For Mobile Equipment Rule
Nothing Says ‘Happy New Year!’ Quite Like A Brand New Regulation From Your Friendly, Neighborhood Enforcement Agency. By Brian Hendrix To close out 2023, MSHA published a new rule, Safety Program for Surface Mobile Equipment. This latest contribution to the Code of Federal Regulations requires all mine operators to develop, implement and update a written safety program for surface mobile…
Read MoreMSHA Reports Final Fatality of 2023
MSHA reported that on Dec. 14, 2023, a contractor at Beck Street, Salt Lake, Utah, died while delivering parts to the mine when an all-terrain telehandler pulling cable tipped over, striking him.
Read MoreFirst Look – January 2024
TOP NEWS Granite Granite Construction announced the acquisition of Lehman-Roberts Co. and Memphis Stone & Gravel Co., longstanding asphalt paving and asphalt and aggregates producers and suppliers. Silvi Materials Shipping sand products to Brooklyn, N.Y., and the five boroughs of Manhattan is a challenge. But Silvi Materials now has a new high-quality, cost-effective solution, launching barges from a new port located about…
Read MoreThe Topic is Dust
Jan. 9, 2024 – Brian David, industry manager at Flexco, writes that “the safety and health of workers in the heavy-duty mining industry is something that I and the team at Flexco take very seriously, as does the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). For more than 20 years, we have anticipated a huge change in direction with MSHA’s respirable…
Read MoreMSHA’s November Impact Inspections: 184 Violations at 14 Mines
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 14 mines in 10 states in November 2023, issuing 184 violations and one safeguard. The agency began impact inspections after an April 2010 explosion in West Virginia at the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 miners. To date, MSHA’s impact inspections in 2023 have identified 2,491…
Read MoreMSHA Reports 37th Fatality of 2023
MSHA reported that on Nov.13, a pit wall at Wrens Plant, Jefferson, Ga., collapsed engulfing an excavator operator while he was outside of the excavator. This is the 37th fatality reported in 2023, and the first classified as “Fall of Face, Rib, Side or Highwall.” MSHA recommends the following best practices to avoid this type of accident:
Read MoreUnsafe Acts By MSHA Inspectors?
What Happens When An MSHA Inspector Engages In An Unsafe Act, Violates A Standard Or Refuses To Comply With The Rules? – And Other Questions. By Brian Hendrix Is an MSHA inspector required to sign-in and sign-out like every other visitor to a mine? Is an MSHA inspector required to comply with MSHA regulations requiring personal protective equipment? Is an…
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