Wayne Palmer was nominated by President Trump to serve as assistant secretary of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) at the Department of Labor. He is the former executive vice president of the Essential Minerals Association (EMA). “Wayne has not only been a terrific asset to the EMA team since he joined the association in 2021, but he has…
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MSHA issues 119 violations in December
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) completed impact inspections in December 2024 at 13 mines in Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia, and issued 119 violations with 32 being evaluated as significant and substantial and two had unwarrantable failure findings. In 2023 and 2024, MSHA conducted 343 impact inspections and identified 5,246 violations, including 1,456…
Read MoreMSHA: No mines met pattern of violations criteria in 2024
The U.S. Department of Labor released the results of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) second Pattern of Violations screening in 2024 and announced that for the first time since 2021, none of the nation’s mines met the POV criteria for the existence of a pattern of violations under section 104(e) of the Mine Act. POV screenings enable MSHA…
Read MoreSo you got some bad paper. Now what?
This month, I want to go back to basics and talk about the process and considerations that might drive a mine operator’s decision to challenge an MSHA citation or order. As you know, the Mine Act requires an inspector to issue a citation or order if he believes an operator “has violated this Act, or any mandatory health or safety…
Read MoreMSHA issues three safety alerts
After three miners were involved in separate preventable accidents, MSHA has released safety alerts for highwalls, dozer entrapment and haul truck rollovers. The agency reported that on September 30, a miner sustained permanently disabling injuries while operating a Caterpillar 992K front-end loader beneath a highwall. A roughly 50-foot section of highwall fell onto the loader, crushing the cab and pinning…
Read MoreMSHA reports 24th fatality of 2024
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has reported that a miner has died from injuries sustained while realigning some longwall shields at Arch Resources’ underground Leer mine complex in West Virginia. The 34-year-old miner, who had 14 years of mining experience, was initially injured on September 28 when the hook and strap assembly broke while attached to two longwall…
Read MoreGear up: Innovations in protective workwear
Most don’t give much thought to PPE – it’s just another part of the job. It does evolve, however, and there are trends in the demand for improvements in the mining industry that are unique and which must be met. by Nick Warrick Last year, there were 40 fatalities in the mining sector, a far cry from over 1,000 per…
Read MoreMSHA reports two more fatalities
MSHA reported that on Nov. 5, a miner at Samuel G. Hurworth in Crane County, Texas, died when the haul truck he was operating over travelled a dump point. The edge of the dump point failed, causing the haul truck to travel backwards, overturn and land on the roof of the cab. This is the 26th fatality reported in 2024,…
Read MoreMSHA final rule promotes innovative, advanced technologies
On Dec. 10, MSHA published a final rule that allows the use of eight voluntary consensus standards approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for electric mining equipment approvals. This final rule allows product manufacturers and designers seeking MSHA approval to follow either the ANSI-approved voluntary consensus standards or the existing MSHA-specific technical requirements. This final rule updates MSHA’s…
Read MoreMSHA completes October impact inspections
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) completed impact inspections in October 2024 at 15 mines in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wyoming and issued 286 violations. Inspections occurred at plants owned by Arcosa, Holcim and Mid-Michigan Materials, among others. The agency conducts impact inspections at mines that merit increased…
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