Program Receives Fiscal Year 2004 Funding

After a long wait, the Program finally received funding from the US Department of Labor for the current fiscal year which began October 1, 2003. Our grant, which covers the majority of our training and other costs, arrived about April 1, six months into the new fiscal year. The grant allows Michigan Tech to back-charge costs from October 1, 2003. 

New Program Instructors

The Program has used three trainers to cover the State during the current fiscal year. Ron Gradowski, a new Michigan Tech employee who lives in Bay City, has conducted most of the training in the southern third of the State. Dan Brown of Gaylord, an employee of our training subcontractor -- Safety Net -- covered the northern portion of Lower Michigan, and Phil Eggerding, a Michigan Tech employee who works out of Michigan Tech conducted most of training in Upper Michigan. We have the good fortune of having new trainers who are dedicated to making the training as interesting and informative as possible, and trainee evaluations of our classes indicate that our training is being well received by trainees.

Former trainers Sharon Regan-Brown and Mitchell Turner are no longer employed by the Program. Sharon has become Corporate Safety Director for Cemex, a manufacturer of Portland cement located in Charlevoix and Mitchell is a full-time homemaker, while his wife teaches school. Mitchell is also preparing to become a full-time youth counselor.

Program Hands Out Useful Materials In Annual Refresher Training

Companies trained since about January 1, 2004 should have received copies of our CD containing the following useful materials:

1)                A copy of our Condensed MSHA Com-pliance Manual. Read this manual to know how to comply with MSHA’s regulations.

2)                Our updated detailed MSHA Compli-ance Manual. Refer to this manual if you need more details on the topics covered in the condensed manual.

3)                An illustrated manual, developed by Tilcom, containing Part 56 definitions, standards with illustrations, and MSHA Program Policies related to each standard. Part 56 contains the MSHA safety and health standards surface metal and nonmetal mines are required to comply with.

4)                A conveyor “bible” by Larry Goldbeck of Martin Engineering entitled “Foundations”. Read this if you want to know details of conveyor operation and maintenance that will make your conveyors safer, more efficient and cost less to maintain.

5)                Yellow Jacket Detailed Instructions for Accident, Injury and Illness Reporting and For Completing Quarterly Employ-ment Reports. Read this manual if you want to understand which accidents must be reported to MSHA, how to report them, and how to fill out your required quarterly hour reports to MSHA.

Trainers also handed out to companies a list of records MSHA requires mine operators and contractors to have available in an inspection. This list, prepared well into the training season, is especially for contractor employees on mine sites, who lack information on required records. A copy is included at the end of this newsletter.

Companies, which did not receive a copy of the CD during annual refresher training, can receive one by calling Sue Nakkula at 906/487-2272 or emailing sgnakkul@mtu.edu.

New Mine Safety Jepardy Game Goes Over Well With Trainees

Three completely new sets of questions were developed last fall for the Mine Safety Jepardy training game. A different set of questions is being used for each of the three years in our 3-year revolving Annual Refresher lesson plan. The questions are somewhat more difficult than those used in earlier versions of the game. Our objective was to, not only, review what the trainees already know, but to provide them with correct operating practices and procedures needed to minimize accidents. Trainees, in general, found these questions much more difficult to answer correctly, but we are confident that each one came out of the class with a better understanding of the topics presented.

Jepardy works well because the interaction and competition help maintain trainee interest, and promote discussion on the topics covered. Topics covered in the new Jepardy questions include: lockout/tagout, fall protection, guarding, mobile equipment and traffic control, first aid, welding and pressure vessels, hearing conservation, fire fighting and prevention, and ground control. Trainee evaluations included a number of comments such as “more Jepardy” or “keep class as it is”, reaffirming our belief that a satisfied trainee is one who is allowed to participate and realizes that the day has provided new useful information, in addition to reviewing existing knowledge.  

What’s New From MSHA?

MSHA’s Lansing Field Office Supervisor Receives Promotional Transfer

Gerald Holeman, MSHA’s Lansing Field Office Supervisor, has taken a promotional transfer to the position of Assistant District Manager in Duluth, Minnesota, effective May 2, 2004. MSHA’s District Office in Duluth has jurisdiction over the 7-state area, which includes Michigan. Mr. Holeman has served on our Program’s Industrial Advisory Board and has been a major contributor to the Holmes Safety Association’s Great Lakes District Council workshops. He is not certain that he will be able to continue on our Industrial Advisory Board in his new position. At this time, MSHA has not announced who will take over Mr. Holeman’s duties in Lansing.

New Information on MSHA’s Internet Site (http://www.MSHA.gov)

Is Bush helping mine health and safety?
By: Dorothy Kosich
© Mineweb 1997-2004

The following are excerpts from an article posted on the Mineweb website on 04/15/2004.

RENO, NV (Mineweb.com) – The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health has challenged claims by an official of the United Mine Workers that the Bush Administration has withdrawn regulations which would have improved the health and safety of U.S. miners.

UMW head of health and safety Joseph Main expressed concerns to Mineweb about the withdrawal of 17 proposed MSHA regulations which would have made changes in surface haulage standards, and addressed flaws in self-contained self rescuers. Other proposed regulations would have amended provisions regarding mine rescue teams, mandated more hours of improved training for miners, and addressed safety concerns for those working in confined spaces. Finally, the suggested regulations would also have addressed air quality and toxic chemical concerns.

In an interview with Mineweb, David Lauriski, the assistant secretary of labor who overseas MSHA, contends that the agency has actually improved mining’s health and safety record since President Bush took office. However, MSHA has changed its approach in addressing issues, which has the approval of the National Mining Association, according to Vice President of Safety and Health Bruce Watzman. Nonetheless, this approach may have contributed to the anxiety UMW officials are now feeling about mining health and safety issues.

A Different Approach to the Regulatory Agenda Lauriski concurred with Main’s assessment that some of the items had been on the regulatory agenda for years. In fact, 13 items—dealing with everything from impoundments to silica to accident investigation to air quality--had sat on the regulatory agenda since 1983. NMA’s Watzman told Mineweb that he felt the rule-making record for a number of these items had gone stale along with the data upon which they were based.

The prime example of this, according to all parties interviewed for this story, was air quality. The first time air quality appeared on the agenda was 1983 as an advanced notice of rule-making. It took until 1989 before a proposed rule was published in the Federal Register. “Absolutely nothing was done with that rule between 1989 until we withdrew it in 2001 and it was never an issue with that rule sitting idle for 11 or 12 years,” Lauriski said. “It didn’t become an issue until I removed it in 2001.” OSHA had a similar rule that it introduced in the 1980s that a court declared was too broad. The agency then withdrew the rule, he said. NMA’s Watzman contends that federal agencies should determine if a sound scientific basis exists prior to making regulatory changes.

Lauriski said he asked senior staff members to prioritize the items on MSHA’s regulatory agenda. The result was the number of regulatory items was reduced from 26 to 11 in 2001. “Just because we removed them doesn’t mean they may not show back up on a future agenda,” Lauriski declared. Rather, MSHA was aiming for a regulatory agenda “that we could actually manage and accomplish.” In the previous eight years prior to the Bush Administration, Lauriski claimed that only 10 rules were adopted while the Bush Administration adopted 11 during the past three years. These adopted rules deal with such topics as high-voltage longwalls, testing and evaluation of independent laboratories, and diesel particulates for coal mines.

Lauriski contends that the response time of the agency to enact emergency regulations has improved under President Bush. When 13 miners died in an underground coal mine in September 2001, emergency standards were implemented to deal with escape and evacuation procedures. “Our purpose is to generate rules that have true value,” he added.

"The Mine Act says that our mission and our mandate are to prevent injury, illness and death in the nation’s mines. We’re all about doing just that. If regulations help us achieve that then those are the regulatory or agenda items that we’re going to pursue," he said.

PROGRAM INFORMATION BULLETIN NO. P04-9 was issued on March 3, 2004 and deals with: Impoundment (Retaining Dams) Inspection and Emergency Action Plans”

PROGRAM INFORMATION BULLETIN NO. P04-10 was issued on March 5, 2004 and deals with: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of First Responders on Mine Sites

PROGRAM POLICY LETTER NO. Reissue of P04-IV-1,  P04-V-1 was issued on March 10, 2004 and deals with  MSHA’s Noise Enforcement Policy

PROGRAM INFORMATION BULLETIN NO. P04-6 was issued February 10, 2004 and deals with:  Hazards Associated with Surface Mines Intersecting Abandoned or Underground Workings

PROGRAM INFORMATION BULLETIN NO. P04-7 was issued February 11, 2004 and deals with:     Immediate Notification of Accidents, and Written Reporting Requirements

MSHA’s Internet Site (www.msha.gov) now contains a list of examples of materials supporting noise control effectiveness.

MSHA’s Internet Site is continually being updated and is the best sources of safety and health information available on the Internet. Of interest to many Michigan Mines is MSHA’s top 20 citations for 2003, which were published on MSHA’s Internet Site in January of 2004.

Michigan Mine Operator and Contractor Record Requirements 

There are a number of records MSHA inspectors will look for, including, but not limited to, the following:

For standards cited below see: http://www.msha.gov/REGDATA/MSHA/0.0.HTM

1.           Training plan – Your own Part 46 plan is required if you are working in nonmetal surface mines (other than gypsum). Your own MSHA-Certified Part 48 plan or the training provider’s plan is required if you are working in a metal or gypsum surface mine or in an underground mine.

2.           Part 46 or 48 -- Record of training (such as a lesson plan that is consistent with the training plan), and training certificates (form 5000-23 required for P 48 training) signed by the person listed in the training plan as “the person responsible for safety and health” including:

a.      New miner, new experienced miner or annual refresher training certificate less than 1 year old for each employee.

b.      Task training certificate if you are assigned to a new task at a nonmetal mine (other than gypsum). To determine whether task training under Part 46 is required, you must observe (and document) that the miner can perform the task in a safe and healthful manner (see 46.7 for details).

c.      Task training certificate in metal and gypsum mines if assigned to new work tasks (not performed in the past 12 months) as mobile equipment operators, drilling machine operators, haulage and conveyor systems operators, ground control machine operators, and those in blasting operations (see 48.27 for details and content of training).

3.           A record that a person available on site has been trained in advanced first aid (56.18010), such as the certificates and/or training rosters issued once every 3 years in Michigan Tech’s annual refresher training.

4.           Accident investigation reports for MSHA reportable accidents during the past 5 years (Part 50).

5.           Quarterly Employment Reports for the past 5 years of work on mine property (Part 50).

6.           Information on subcontractors (Part.45.4) including: Trade name, business address, phone number, description or nature of work performed, mine location, MSHA ID, if any, and Address of Record.

7.           Crane boom charts, boom angle indicator charts where cranes are used.

8.           Electrical continuity/resistance of grounding systems tests within 12 months or after installation, repair, or modification (56.12028).

9.           Emergency telephone numbers posted at appropriate locations (56.18012).

10.       Emergency firefighting, evacuation and rescue procedures (56.4330).

11.       Records for each fire extinguisher of monthly visual inspection and annual maintenance inspection (56.4201).

12.       Written HazCom program, accessible MSDSs for hazardous chemicals, record of HazCom training as part of all new miner, new experienced miner, or task training (Part 47). – You may be able to just show the inspector that you use no hazardous chemicals on site if this is the case (note that diesel fuel, lubricants, acetylene and oxygen are hazardous chemicals).

13.       Record of employee’s noise exposure, which shows that exposure is less than a 50 % noise dose over workshift (equal to 85 dBA average over 8-hour shift or somewhat less than 85 dBA average over longer shift). This could be data from monitoring (by you or MSHA), equipment manufacturer data, similar equipment data etc. If the full workshift noise dose exceeds 50 % (50 % dose is equal to an 8-hour average exposure level of 85 dBA or a 16-hour exposure level of 80 dBA), all records and actions in a hearing conservation program (Part 62) are required.

14.       Notification (phone call to MSHA field office) before commencement or closing of mines (56.1000). (not usually required of contractor).

15.       Notification of Legal Identity (Part 41 – not usually required of contractor – see item 6). http://www.msha.gov/forms/forms.htm

16.       Pressure vessel inspection certificate annually – not typically required for household type water heaters (56.13030) or for compressed air receivers less than 250 psi pressure or less than 15 cu ft capacity.

17.       Daily written preshift inspection safety defect log for mobile equipment must be kept until repairs are completed (56.14100(d)). This could be a sheet with “Mobile Equipment Defect Log” on top and having two columns – one with the date and the other for defects affecting safety that are not repaired immediately.

18.       Daily written work area inspection record kept for 1 year or until the next MSHA inspection (56.18002). This may simply be a sheet with “Daily Walk-around Inspection” on top and two columns -- one for the date and the other for the initials of the person who made the inspection.