When I arrived at the Mine Safety and Health Administration in 2009, I made it a top priority to beef up enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions contained in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 Act. Section 105(c) of the act protects miners, their representatives and applicants for employment from retaliation for identifying safety and health hazards, asking for MSHA inspections, or refusing to engage in an unsafe act.

Unfortunately, the reality is that many fear retaliation by their supervisors for exercising those rights.

We saw this through the course of the investigation of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, and we continue to see it as we investigate discrimination complaints submitted to MSHA. Last year, we filed 46 temporary reinstatement requests and 34 discrimination cases on behalf of miners across the country − the most ever in a year.

Here’s a recent example: A miner working as an electrician at the New Elk Mine in Trinidad, Colo., contacted MSHA about hazardous conditions along a beltline that he claimed were not being properly addressed by his supervisors. The day after he filed the complaint, MSHA issued several citations to the mine. The electrician’s position and shift were changed multiple times over the next three weeks and, not long after, he was terminated. He then filed a discrimination complaint with MSHA.

Following a hearing before a judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, New Elk Coal Co. has agreed to pay approximately $115,000 to the miner. The company also has agreed to pay MSHA a civil penalty of $10,000.

All miners, supervisors and contractors have the right to identify hazardous conditions and refuse unsafe work without fear of discrimination or retaliation, plain and simple. Hopefully, this case will serve as a reminder to all mine operators.

For more information on rights in the workplace, including the Miners’ Rights Handbook and online training tools, visit www.msha.gov.

Joseph Main is the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

Editor’s note: This blog is based on an op-ed that appeared in the Beckley Register-Herald.

Every mining death that occurs leaves a lasting impact not only on the victim’s family, but on the community where that miner lived, worked and worshipped. Anniversaries of mine accidents often serve as a painful reminder of the tragic moment that took the life of a loved one and can resonate forever.

On April 5, 2010, at 3:02 p.m., the Montcoal community was forever changed.  Twenty-nine miners perished in a massive explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in the worst coal mining disaster in decades. 

Photo credit: www.facesofthemine.com

An exhaustive investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration followed. Hundreds of hours of witness testimony unearthed disturbing facts about the mine’s workplace culture, its value of production over safety, hidden hazards and a fear of retaliation for miners who spoke up about unsafe practices. 

As a result of an ongoing, aggressive investigation by the Department of Justice, three former Massey Energy employees have been charged with federal crimes in the wake of the explosion. Two are in prison. The third awaits sentencing.

But that’s just a start. The culture of mine safety and health had to change, and MSHA had to be part of it.

We began taking action with enhanced enforcement programs, such as impact inspections at mines with compliance problems, and the first use of the revised Pattern of Violations process in the history of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

In our first screening following those revisions in 2010, 17 mines received potential POV notices. By October 2012, during the third screening, that number had fallen to four. Recent reviews have found that mines that received a potential POV notice have shown signs of improved compliance and lower injury rates.

We reminded the mining industry of their obligations through policy alerts – miners’ safety rights, proper mine ventilation and not providing advance notice of MSHA inspections. We targeted specific rulemaking on spreading rock dust in mines to prevent explosions, requiring examinations by mine operators for better compliance, and overhauling the POV program to rein in chronic violators.

We implemented organizational and administrative changes, splitting the southern West Virginia coal district into two offices to better manage enforcement, and we upgraded the Mt. Hope dust laboratory to a national lab to better manage coal dust and gas analyses.

In partnership with the department’s solicitor of labor, we’ve resolved more than 100,000 cases of contested violations that had piled up before the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. 

And we have better education and outreach efforts underway, to encourage mine operators to undertake greater responsibility to find and fix hazardous conditions at their mines, improve industry response in the wake of mine emergencies, and give miners a greater voice in the workplace without the fear of retaliation. In 2012, MSHA filed the most temporary reinstatements than in any other year on behalf of miners who had been fired or otherwise retaliated against for reporting violations.

Most importantly, more miners are going home to their families safe and healthy. Fatality and injury rates in mining reached the lowest level ever in 2011, and preliminary data show that those rates fell even further in 2012.

Based on the results of our own internal review following the UBB tragedy, we’ve identified and implemented dozens of corrective actions.   

The Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial stands today in Whitesville. And last Friday, on the 3-year anniversary of the explosion, a memorial marker honoring the 29 miners was placed on the Raleigh County Courthouse lawn. For our part at MSHA, the most compelling commemoration to these men is a renewed commitment to our mission to prevent death, disease and injury, and to promote safe and healthy workplaces for all miners.

Joseph Main is the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

On Nov. 20, 1968, an explosion ripped through the Farmington No. 9 Mine in West Virginia, leaving 78 miners dead. There was sorrow and outrage as the toll reverberated through America’s mining communities.  One year later, Congress passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.

But that law didn’t protect miners at metal/nonmetal operations. On May 2, 1972, a fire engulfed the Sunshine Mine in Idaho − a silver mine. Smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning killed 91 miners.

Coal miners featured in a 1971 safety video

And in March of 1976, two violent blasts shattered the Scotia Mine in Kentucky within days of each other, killing 26. This included 11 mine inspectors and rescue workers who had arrived to investigate the first explosion at the coal mine.

At that moment in history, it was clear to lawmakers and the public that stronger protections for all miners were needed, leading to the passage of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

The law – which went into effect 35 years ago on March 9, 1978 – transferred the Interior Department’s Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration to the Labor Department, creating today’s Mine Safety and Health Administration.

At MSHA, we commemorate the act’s anniversary because it spurred dramatic changes that improved miners’ safety and health. I know, because I began working in coal mines in 1967. The statistics show the dramatic difference: In 1977, there were 273 mining fatalities in the United States. Last year, that number was 35. 

Among other provisions, the landmark legislation:

• Protected metal/nonmetal miners through mandated inspections: four times per year at underground mines and twice per year at surface mines.
• Ensured compensation during periods when a mine is idled because of a withdrawal order (which temporarily ceases production) issued by MSHA.
• Enhanced antidiscrimination provisions and, for the first time, provided miners an opportunity for temporary reinstatement to their jobs while pursuing complaints.  
• Required mine operators to provide training for new miners and newly hired experienced miners, as well as annual safety retraining of miners.
• Created effective enforcement tools that allow MSHA to address chronic violators (those mine operators who establish a “pattern of violations” of mandatory safety or health standards). 
• Placed an increased emphasis on protecting the health of miners to ensure that they do not suffer material impairment due to exposure to toxic substances and harmful physical agents in mine atmospheres.

Listen: Rep. George Miller of California talks about the act’s impact.

While the act made a tremendous difference, there is always room for improvement. Unsafe conditions and discrimination still exist. Last year, MSHA filed 46 temporary reinstatement requests – the most in our history – on behalf of miners who were fired or disciplined as the result of reporting unsafe conditions. Workers are vigorously exercising their rights, and we’re stepping up our efforts to protect them.

MSHA’s enhanced enforcement initiatives, such as the monthly impact inspections of problem mines and pattern of violation notifications, are making a positive difference. We’ve seen mine operators’ compliance improve since we initiated impact inspections nearly three years ago.

The anniversary of the act and MSHA coincides with another significant milestone: the U.S. Department of Labor’s centennial. The department has been working to promote and advance the interests of workers, their families, job seekers and retirees for the past 100 years. MSHA has been working for 35 years to protect the welfare of our nation’s miners, and we will keep working so that they can return home to their families after every shift.

Joe Main is the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

Since I arrived at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, my top priority has been to reduce fatalities, injuries and illnesses in our nation’s mines. Last year at this time, we reported that mining fatality and injury rates were the lowest ever in history. Preliminary data for 2012 show that 36 miners (19 in coal and 17 in metal/nonmetal mining) died in work-related accidents. While one death is still one too many, we are continuing to move mine safety in the right direction with fatality rates for all mining reaching an all-time low for the second straight year.

If the current figures hold, more miners than ever went home to their families and friends safe and healthy at the end of their shifts last year. We know it has taken the efforts of all of us in the mining industry to reach these milestones. But while we acknowledge these historic lows, we understand that more action is needed by the entire mining community to prevent mining injuries, illnesses and deaths.

Mining Related Fatalities FY 1978 - FY 2011

When the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 passed, 273 miners died that same year. Since that time, fatality numbers have steadily declined. In order to prevent mine deaths, we know there are some essential things that operators must have in place:

• Effective safety and health management programs that are constantly evaluated.
• Find-and-fix programs to identify and eliminate mine hazards.
• Training for all mining personnel.

We’ve posted an in-depth analysis of 2012’s mining deaths on our website along with best practices to help mining operations, miners and contractors avoid fatalities, as well as for trainers to include in miner training. Much more information on preventing mine injuries, illnesses and deaths is available as well.

At MSHA, we’ve also undertaken a number of measures to prevent mining deaths, injuries and illnesses:

• Increased surveillance and strategic enforcement through impact inspections at mines with troubling compliance histories.
• Enhanced pattern of violations actions; special initiatives such as “Rules to Live By,” which focuses attention on the most common causes of mining deaths.
• And outreach efforts such as “Safety Pro in a Box,” which provides guidance to the metal/nonmetal mining industry on best practices and compliance responsibilities.

MSHA also has issued two new final regulations that will contribute to reduced injuries and deaths in mining. The final rule for Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards became effective in August 2012. It enhances miners’ health and safety by requiring coal mine operators to identify and correct hazardous conditions and violations of nine health and safety standards that pose the greatest risk to miners, including the kinds of conditions that led to the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine. The recent final rule on Pattern of Violations will go into effect on March 25 and will simplify the existing POV criteria, improve consistency in applying the POV criteria and more effectively achieve the statutory intent. It also will encourage chronic violators to comply with the Mine Act and MSHA’s safety and health standards.

It takes all of us in the mining community, working together, to improve health and safety. Already, actions by many in the mining industry have contributed to overall improvements. Our nation’s miners deserve nothing less than our continued commitment.

Joseph Main is the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

Today we recognize the third annual National Miners Day, which marks the accomplishments and sacrifices of miners across the nation. Dec. 6 was chosen as National Miners Day to honor the 362 miners who perished in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va., in 1907 − the worst mining accident in American history.

Miners' families wait for news outside the Monongah mine, Dec. 6, 1907. The disaster killed 362 men and boys out of 380 working that day.

Like many others, I have spent my entire career in mining, dedicated to making mining workplaces safer and more healthful for our miners. It is my firm belief − one that is shared by my colleagues at the Mine Safety and Health Administration and our labor and industry stakeholders − that miners deserve to return home after every shift free from injury and illness.

When I arrived at MSHA in October 2009, I set out to achieve specific goals to improve mine safety and health, and protect miners. While there is still much to do, we’ve made real progress.  Together with efforts by the mining industry, we have improved compliance and mine safety by implementing a number of targeted initiatives. These include a revised pattern of violations process and an impact inspection program to address problem mines, as well as the “Rules to Live By” program to prevent the types of violations that have most often resulted in deaths.

While even one death is one too many, I’m proud to be able to report that the fatality and injury rates at the nation’s mines reached an all-time low in 2011. The fatal injury rate for mining as a whole was .0114 per 200,000 hours worked, and the all-injury rate was 2.73 per 200,000 hours worked. These statistics are more than numbers on a page: they represent a significant achievement in protecting workers’ lives and well-being. In the coming years, we must all work hard to improve upon them.

Bailey mine personnel demonstrate equipment to MSHA Assistant Secretary Joseph Main.

Another of MSHA’s goals is to give miners a greater voice in the workplace. The April 5, 2010, Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy that claimed the lives of 29 miners highlighted the need to do more in this area. To accomplish our goal, investigations of miners’ discrimination complaints are more quickly conducted. In fiscal year 2012, the Labor Department filed 39 requests with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission − more than in any other year on record − for temporary reinstatements on behalf of miners who submitted complaints of discrimination in the form of a suspension, layoff, discharge or other adverse action. Miners need to know that they have a voice when it comes to their safety and health, without fear of retaliation.

Our efforts to reduce occupational disease and end black lung also are paying off. In 2009, MSHA launched End Black Lung – Act Now!, a comprehensive plan that includes:

• outreach to miners, operators and the mining community,
• increased education and training for miners,
• enhanced enforcement of respirable dust standards, and
• regulatory activity to reduce exposures to respirable dust.

The efforts led to the lowest yearly average for respirable dust concentrations in underground coal mines in 2012. Although the fight to end black lung continues, coal mines are healthier workplaces thanks to these efforts.

We are committed to working hard and working in concert with miners, miners’ representatives and the mining industry to help miners be safer and healthier on the job. On this National Miner’s Day, I want our miners to know that we honor their hard work by looking out for their safety and health. We owe them that!

Joseph Main in the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

The coal miner in the photo is spraying rock dust to reduce the combustible fraction of coal dust in the air.

Mine fatalities are preventable. Many mines operate every shift of every day, year in and year out, without a fatality or a lost-time injury. Mining workplaces can and must be made safe for miners.

Last year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration began providing the mining industry with quarterly information on the types of fatal accidents that are occurring and the best practices to prevent them.  

We have seen a decrease in overall fatality and injury rates in the mining industry as a whole. In fact, in 2011, fatality and injury rates were the lowest ever recorded. This means that fewer miners are being killed, fewer miners are being injured, and more miners than ever before are going home to their family and friends safe and healthy at the end of their shifts. Of course, while mining deaths and injuries have reached historic lows, more actions are needed to prevent miner deaths, injuries and illnesses from occurring.

MSHA has taken a number of actions to identify mines with health and safety problems and initiated several outreach and enforcement initiatives, including “Rules to Live By,” a fatality prevention program highlighting safety and health standards most frequently cited during fatal accident investigations. We believe those actions, along with initiatives by the mining industry, can make a positive difference.

However, mine operators must take ownership of safety and health at their mines, too.

• Mines need to have effective safety and health management programs in place that are constantly evaluated and implemented. These programs should be effective enough to find and fix mine hazards and ensure effective training of all mining personnel.
• Conducting workplace examinations before beginning a shift and during a shift – every shift – can prevent deaths by finding and fixing safety and health hazards. Workplace examinations must be performed and identified problems resolved to protect workers.
• Effective and appropriate training will ensure that miners recognize and understand hazards and how to control or eliminate them.

No miner should have to die on the job just to earn a paycheck. We must all work together to ensure that does not happen. We are united in our determination that all miners go home safe and healthy at the end of each shift.

Joseph Main is the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health.

When I arrived at the Mine Safety and Health Administration in October 2009, one of my top priorities was to educate miners about their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, specifically those rights that pertain to their safety and health.  According to Section 105(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, a miner cannot be discharged, discriminated against or interfered with in the exercise of statutory rights because he or she has filed a complaint alleging a health or safety violation.

Some mine operators, however, have disregarded this law, suspending, laying off or taking adverse action against a miner who became too vocal about mining conditions.  In fact, issues relating to fears of discrimination and retaliation came to light during congressional hearings held in the wake of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Statements from miners and family members of the miners who died indicated that mine employees had been reluctant to speak out about safety conditions in existence prior to the April 2010 explosion, fearing retaliation by management.

Thus, the critical need to better educate miners about their rights and to promptly and thoroughly investigate discrimination complaints.  Those efforts are working.  The number of requests for temporary reinstatements the Labor Department submitted on behalf of miners who filed discrimination complaints more than tripled from the period of fiscal years 2007-2009 to the period of FY 2010-2012 (through July 31, 2012), increasing from 22 to 71. Furthermore, the Labor Department filed 70 complaints alleging mine safety discrimination during the period of FY 2010-2012 (through July 31, 2012), up from 39 from FY 2007-2009.

In June 2011, MSHA released new Web-based training tools to help miners better understand their rights and responsibilities, including “A Guide to Miners’ Rights and Responsibilities“; an electronic form for filing an anonymous hazard complaint; a discrimination complaint packet; information about black lung benefits and resources; and a compendium of online videos addressing miners’ concerns about unsafe working conditions, hiring decisions, how to refuse unsafe work, the role of supervisors and the role of miners’ representatives who travel with federal inspectors.

MSHA has instituted other measures to enhance enforcement of miners’ rights, including a reorganization of the Office of Assessments, Accountability, Special Enforcement and Investigations to provide enhanced efficiency, staffing, oversight and training of special investigators.

A guide for miners’ representatives explaining their rights under the Mine Act is slated for completion this fall. The publication will include information on inspections and investigations, filing a hazardous condition complaint, accessing information using MSHA’s Data Retrieval System and becoming a miners’ representative.

All miners have the right to a safe workplace, and the right to identify hazardous conditions and refuse unsafe work without fear of discrimination or retaliation.  We at MSHA take the rights of miners and our responsibility to enforce them very seriously, and will continue to work to ensure they are upheld.

Joseph Main is the assistant secretary for mine safety and health.

Effective examinations are the first line of defense to protect miners working in underground coal mines.  When mine operators conduct such checks before and during a shift, they can address health and safety hazards before they become more dangerous and cause harm to workers.  On August 6, the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s final rule on Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards went into effect.

The regulation requires mine operators to identify and correct hazardous conditions and violations of nine health and safety standards that pose the greatest risk to miners, including some of the conditions that contributed to the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in April 2010.  Last year, MSHA issued approximately 158,000 violations, of which approximately 77,000 were attributable to underground coal mines, even though these mines represent just 4 percent of all mines.

After analyzing MSHA’s accident reports and enforcement data for underground coal mines covering a five-year period, we determined that the same types of violations of health or safety standards are found by MSHA inspectors in underground coal mines every year, and that these violations present some of the most unsafe conditions for coal miners.

These repeated violations expose miners to unnecessary safety and health risks that should be found and corrected by mine operators. This final examination rule will increase the identification and correction of unsafe conditions in mines earlier, removing many of the conditions that could lead to danger, and improve protection for miners in underground coal mines.

We are building upon on the standards emphasized in MSHA’s Rules to Live By initiative, launched in February 2010, a multi-phase outreach and enforcement program designed to strengthen fatality prevention in mines. Operators will be required to examine for violations of nine standards that address ventilation, methane, roof control, combustible materials, rock dust, equipment guarding and other safeguards, buttressing their hazard examination in existing enforcement laws. A record of remedial actions will also be required of operators, who will review with mine examiners on a quarterly basis the citations and orders issued in required examination areas.

Miners deserve to return home to their loved ones after each and every shift.  Mine operators who follow this regulation will help ensure this happens.

Joseph Main is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

Among the most critical provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 is the protection of miners against retaliation for raising health and safety concerns.  Two recent decisions by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission have affirmed the legal rights of miners to be protected against discrimination in the workplace.  

In the first case, an administrative law judge with the review commission ordered Cumberland River Coal Co. to reinstate a coal miner to his former job and pay a civil penalty of $30,000. This was  a $10,000 increase over the amount originally proposed by the Secretary of Labor.

Charles Howard, who worked at Band Mill No. 2 Mine in Letcher County, Ky., suffered head injuries on the job in June 2010 and was discharged almost immediately upon his return the following May. Howard filed a complaint of discrimination with MSHA, alleging that he was fired for his participation in activities protected by the Mine Act. MSHA initiated an investigation, and upon finding merit to the complaint, filed the case with the review commission.

According to court documents, although Howard was cleared to work by his treating physician, the mine operator refused to allow him to return to his job. Instead, Cumberland River Coal Co. sought the opinion of a different doctor, who after,changing an earlier diagnosis, determined that Howard could not return to work.

“There is no suggestion that Howard was terminated due to poor work performance and there was no incident that would have justified his termination,” wrote Administrative Law Judge Margaret A. Miller. “The only difficulty that [the mine operator] had with Howard was the fact that he continued to make safety complaints and continued to contact MSHA. Finally, not only was there open hostility against Howard, he was treated differently than other miners who had suffered a work-related injury.”

In the second case, the review commission affirmed an order of temporary reinstatement of a miner who worked at Mammoth Coal Processing Plant and River Tipple in Kanawha County, W.Va. , An employee at the plant since 1975, Robert Nickoson was also a miners’ representative, which allowed him to accompany an MSHA inspector during inspections.  In a June 2010 inspection, Nickoson, who was also accompanied by a Mammoth representative, pointed out several pieces of equipment in disrepair.  This action resulted in the issuance of several violations to the mine operator. 

In January 2012, the company suspended him for five days over a dispute about time used for an emergency medical procedure.  When Nikoson went back to the mine for a “return to work” meeting, he was informed that he was being terminated due to “insubordinate and unprofessional conduct” at a prior safety meeting.

Miners must be able to freely address health and safety concerns in the workplace. If a miner is denied the right to participate in safeguarding health and safety, it puts at risk not only his safety, but the safety of his fellow miners.  Mr. Howard and Mr. Nickoson asserted their rights and the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission found that their actions were supported by facts in their cases.

Joseph A. Main is Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

May was Mine Rescue Training Month at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. A series of activities featured a two-day national mine emergency summit with stakeholders and three days of mine rescue skills training at the agency’s academy in Beaver, W.Va.; a mine emergency response drill at the Bailey BMX Mine near Washington, Pa.; and a demonstration at West Virginia University’s Academy of Mine Training and Energy Technologies facility near Morgantown, W.Va. All of these activities underscore the importance, I believe, of furthering mine rescue training throughout the mining industry.

A newly installed state-of-the-art communications system enables MSHA’s John Urosek (left), Assistant Secretary Joseph Main and Jeff Kravitz to study the video image of a mine map in a mobile command vehicle.

At the National Mine Health and Safety Academy, nearly 60 mine rescue teams from coal mines around the country participated in a series of skills training and competitive events to better prepare them to respond to the next mine emergency. These first responders are, in my opinion, the backbone of mine emergency response – the men and women called upon to do the heavy lifting when mine fires, explosions, roof falls, inundations of water and other such events occur. Preparation for these mine rescue teams involves a considerable amount of dedication, skill and training.

The competitive events included hands-on fire fighting, navigating through thick smoke, applying first aid, and solving a hypothetical problem in a simulated mine emergency to rescue trapped and injured miners. In addition, MSHA had on display several components of its Mine Emergency Operations unit, including the seismic location system, mobile gas laboratory, mine rescue robot and command center vehicle, which recently was equipped with state-of-the-art, surface-to-underground communications and mapping capabilities.

A mine rescue team tests its skills fighting a fire.

Later in the month, Consol Energy voluntarily shut down its Bailey BMX Mine for an entire day to conduct a mine emergency response drill involving nearly 100 company personnel and participants from the state and federal government. For a company in a production-driven industry, this speaks volumes about Consol’s desire to cultivate the highest level of expertise in mine emergency response.

The simulated mine disaster required miners to retreat to a refuge alternative and await the arrival of mine rescue teams. Nearly 1,000 feet below the earth’s surface, the “trapped” miners successfully tested the effectiveness of MSHA’s seismic location system by pounding on roof bolts to alert those on the surface of their exact location.

Finally, I had the opportunity to visit WVU’s Academy of Mine Training and Energy Technologies facility, which features a simulated underground coal mine and the capability for live fire training for both new and experienced mine personnel, mine rescue teams and fire brigade teams.

MSHA’s mine rescue robot can travel underground to areas unsafe for miners.

I have spent most of my working life involved in more rescue operations and mine emergencies than I’d care to remember. I understand the critical importance of the mine emergency work and training rescue teams undergo.

The members of mine rescue teams, who spend long hours preparing for a mine emergency they hope never happens, deserve the best training and preparation we have to offer.

One of my first actions when I came to MSHA was to direct a review of our readiness for mine emergencies. To this end, we have undertaken a comprehensive mine emergency gap analysis of MSHA, the industry, states and mine rescue teams.

The aim is to examine the mine rescue system for weaknesses and collectively make that system work better. Specifically, we need to look closely at the things that don’t go right during a mine rescue. Where are the shortcomings? What do we need to do to be better prepared? Effective mine rescue entails many different parts working together seamlessly toward one goal. One of the most important things we can do is to prepare ourselves as best we can for a mine emergency.

MSHA, the mining industry and state agencies have been ramping up emergency training, adding equipment and testing new mine emergency technologies, including communication systems, electronic mapping and data sharing that would allow advancing rescue teams and the command centers to be directly connected during underground rescue explorations. Two-way, through-the-earth voice communications technology has been developed and is now being used in some mines. We’ve developed a web-based mapping tool on MSHA’s homepage to help locate mine rescue teams, equipment and vendors to support mine emergency operations, and to provide explicit directions to mine emergency sites.

While we continue to enhance mine rescue, the top priority at MSHA is still this: preventing accidents, injuries and deaths in the nation’s mines, improving working conditions, and thereby, someday precluding the need for mine rescue teams.