If you’ve spent any time around MSHA cases, you already know that jurisdiction is one of those issues that never quite stays settled. Every few years, a case comes along that forces everyone – operators, contractors, inspectors, and lawyers – to rethink what “mine” actually means under the Mine Act. Secretary of Labor (MSHA) v. KC Transport, Inc. is one…
Read More
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced the renewal of its alliance with the Essential Minerals Association, as well as a new alliance with the Metallurgical Coal Producers Association that will help protect the health and safety of workers in the mining industry.
Read MoreThe U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has published its preliminary findings from an April 30 incident that took the life of one miner. The fatal accident occurred at the Portable Crusher #1 site in Wastington County, Idaho, a surface stone mine controlled by Jeanne M (Seubert) McDonough and Seubert Excavators, according to federal data. The victim was identified as…
Read MoreThe Mine Safety and Health Administration issued a Program Information Bulletin (PIB) on April 9, stressing that it will continue to enforce existing silica enforcement outlines. In P26-01, acting Administrator for Mine Safety and Health Enforcement Timothy Watkins said the existing standards on respirable crystalline silica or quartz exposure in title 30 Code of Federal Regulations (30 CFR) parts 56,…
Read MoreThe U.S. Health and Safety Administration has issued an equipment safety alert just weeks after a miner died following a strike to the face. On April 2, a shuttlecar operator died after being hit by falling rock from the mine roof while setting timber posts during retreat mining at Alpha Metallurgical Resources’ Panther Eagle operating in West Virginia. It was…
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that injury rates fell to an all-time low in 2025. Also known as the total recordable injury rate, the all-injury rate for mining as a whole was 1.74 per 200,000 hours worked in 2025, down from 1.82 last year. “These historic safety numbers demonstrate that the Trump administration’s efforts…
Read MoreMSHA reported that on March 28, a contractor at Alpine Silica-San Antonio, owned by Pro Frac Holding Corp., died after falling approximately 37 feet through an unsecured roof panel of the shaker screen deck building while conducting roof repairs. This is the sixth fatality reported in 2026, and the first classified as Slip or Fall of Person. MSHA recommends the…
Read MoreThe Mine Safety and Health Administration recently released a fatality alert to all mines across the U.S. following a January 6 incident that killed a contract worker in California. In that incident, which occurred at the Lebec cement plant, a contractor was fatally struck by the motor and gearbox assembly while removing a baghouse slide gate. The facility is owned…
Read MoreAs the weather changes in many parts of the country, MSHA is warning of freeze-thaw hazards as these cycles rapidly change ground and workplace conditions. Water freezing in cracks expands and loosens material, increasing the risk of rock falls, highwall failures and unstable roadways. Ice, mud and poor traction make travel hazardous. Unrecognized freeze-thaw hazards have contributed to serious mining…
Read MoreIn February, the agency issued a safety warning and best practices for work around autotransformers as they pose a potential ground fault hazard. “It is hazardous when a ground fault within the autotransformer occurs and goes undetected by the ground fault protection circuit. Miners and electricians have reported being shocked when contacting shuttle cars,” MSHA noted in its alert. Shuttle…
Read More