June 18, 2024 – MSHA will hold a series of stakeholder meetings across the country to share information about the final rule MSHA issued on April 18, 2024. The final rule, entitled Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection, is to reduce miner exposures to respirable crystalline silica and improve respiratory protection for all airborne hazards.…
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U.S. Department of Labor to Broadcast Silica Panel Discussion
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson will moderate a live-streamed panel discussion at 2 p.m. EDT on June 3 to discuss how the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s final rule for respirable crystalline silica will better protect the health of the nation’s miners. Issued in April 2024, the final rule…
Read MoreMSHA’s Silica Rule
Exploring The Depths Of Bad Rulemaking. By Brian Hendrix On April 18, MSHA published its final rule on respirable crystalline silica (Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection). Two days before the publication, the Acting Secretary of Labor appeared with the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health and union leaders to announce the release of…
Read MoreFirst Look May 2024
TOP NEWS WIA takes part in AGG1 Academy?On the first day of AGG1, Women in Aggregates (WIA) – formed by SEMCO Publishing, the parent company of Rock Products magazine – sponsored a successful AGG1 Academy session and networking mixer at the Music City Center in Nashville. The interactive “Finding the Next Generation of Women in the Aggregates Industry” panel featured…
Read MoreMSHA Silica Rule Draws Ire of Industry
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a final rule to “better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica, also known as silica dust or quartz dust.” The final rule lowers the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cu. meter of air for…
Read MoreWelcome to The Aggregates Almanac, 2023 Edition
Welcome to the 2023 edition of the “Aggregates Almanac: The Ultimate Information Resource for Quarry Operators.” Published now for the seventh year in a row, feedback from our readers indicates that this publication is widely used and valued; and retained as a go-to information source. Rock Products’ Benchmark 2023 survey indicates that aggregates operators are highly interested in: Equipment upgrades.…
Read MoreThe Mine Silica Health Administration
It Looks Like MSHA Started With The OSHA Rule And Proceeded To Cut Everything That Looked Even Remotely Reasonable. By Brian Hendrix Way back in 2019, we heard that MSHA intended to put the “H” back in MSHA. MSHA Assistant Secretary David Zatezalo, told Congress that MSHA would to “put the ‘H’ back in ‘MSHA,’” by “aggressively enforc[ing] existing standards…
Read MoreMSHA Will Extend Public Comment Period for Silica Rule
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 MoreCrystalline Silica Rule Now in Federal Register
July 13, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Labor published a notice of proposed rulemaking by its Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to amend existing Federal standards to better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards related to occupational exposure of respirable crystalline silica, or silica dust. The proposed rule change will ensure miners have at least the same…
Read MoreIAC Recommends Crystalline Silica Actions
MSHA announced an increase in enforcement of the Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) dust standard at mining sites and other facilities involved in processing, cutting, drilling and grinding rock and stone. This includes the manufacturing of cement, artificial stone, glass, steel, brick, ceramics, and industrial sands (including frac sand).
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