The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will extend the public comment period on proposed amendments to existing federal standards that protect the nation’s miners from health hazards related to workplace exposure of respirable crystalline silica or silica dust. MSHA will extend the comment period from Aug. 28 to Sept. 11, adding 15…
Read MoreTag: MSHA
First MSHA Silica Hearing Held
Aug. 9, 2023 – Louisville Public Media featured a good recap of the first Mine Safety and Health Administration hearing to gather comments on the recently proposed silica standards. The regulation would affect every mine, cement plant, and rock quarry in the country regardless of the material produced there. It would add protections for non-coal workers like requiring companies to…
Read MoreFirst Look – August 2023
TOP NEWS BMC EnterprisesBMC Enterprises Inc. (BMC), the largest producer of aggregates and concrete in the St. Louis region, has completed acquisitions of Raineri Building Materials, Eureka Materials and Blue Grass Ready Mix within the last three months. Vulcan MaterialsVulcan Materials Co. released its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report highlighting the company’s durable growth strategy, performance and progress on…
Read MoreMSHA Reports 25th Fatality of 2023
MSHA reported that on July 17, a miner at Holcim’s Swampscott Quarry, Essex County, Mass., died while performing repairs on a gyratory crusher. When a component was being suspended by a crane, a lifting eye welded to the component broke free striking the miner.
Read MoreMSHA Impact Inspections Target 18 Mines, Yield 242 Violations in June
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that impact inspections completed by its Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) at 18 mines in 12 states in June 2023 led the agency to issue 242 violations. The agency began impact inspections after the deaths of 29 miners in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010, one of the…
Read MoreMSHA Warns About Heat Stress
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has issued an urgent reminder for mines and miners in regard to heat stress on the job, as well as ways to treat it when it does occur.
Read MoreBig Ridge’s 10-Year Anniversary
MSHA’s Authority Under Big Ridge Is Broad, But It’s Not Unlimited. We all know that MSHA possesses a tremendous amount of enforcement authority. For example, an MSHA inspector does not need a warrant to enter and inspect a mine at any time and without any advance notice. With the stroke of a pen, an MSHA inspector may order a mine…
Read MoreMSHA Continues Impact Inspections
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) completed impact inspections at 20 mines in 15 states in April 2023 and found 335 violations. Since Jan. 1, 2023, MSHA’s inspections identified 914 violations, including 257 significant and substantial and 18 unwarrantable failure findings. A significant and substantial violation is one reasonably likely to cause…
Read MoreMSHA Reports 24th Fatality of 2023
MSHA reported that on June 22, a contract bulldozer operator at Vulcan Materials’ Chula Vista, Calif., quarry died when the bulldozer he was operating backed off the edge of a highwall. The bulldozer operator was clearing the bench in preparation for drilling and blasting and had removed the berms along the edge.
Read MoreFIRST LOOK – July 2023
TOP NEWS GraniteGranite has received approval from the Utah Department of Air Quality (UDAQ) to begin the public comment period as part of Granite’s Parleys I-80 South Quarry small mine air permit application. During this rigorous application process, the application undergoes a comprehensive 30-day comment period, allowing the public to provide valuable input. U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court has…
Read More