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MSHA News Release: [02/11/2003]
Contact Name: Rodney
Brown
Phone Number: (202) 693-9425
MSHA, NSSGA Form Innovative Mine Safety Alliance
ARLINGTON, Va.—The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine
Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has formed a unique alliance with the
National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) to prevent injuries and
illnesses at U.S. aggregate operations.
The NSSGA, a trade organization which represents stone, sand and gravel
mining operations nationwide, will work closely with MSHA to promote of safe
working conditions, develop effective miner training programs and expand mine
safety and health outreach and communication.
“I am especially pleased about this partnership to promote safety
and health in the stone, sand and gravel industry,” said Dave D. Lauriski,
assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “For the first
time ever, MSHA and an industry association have jointly agreed to adopt safety
and health performance goals with objective measures.”
“This agreement signals a new era of cooperation between the
aggregates industry and government,” said Jennifer Joy Wilson, NSSGA
president and CEO. “NSSGA members value their workers as their greatest
asset, and their safety and health is the highest priority.”
In addition to the performance goals, NSSGA will work with MSHA to
develop training and education programs on reducing mine hazards and to
disseminate information on mine safety and health at conferences, events, or
through print and electronic media. NSSGA will cooperate with MSHA to evaluate
applied engineering to improve mine safety.
Both groups will promote a national dialogue on mine safety and health
by sharing information on best practices or effective approaches to eliminating
mining hazards, as jointly determined by MSHA and NSSGA. The alliance will
conduct this dialogue with others in the mining industry through individual or
joint outreach.
“I’m proud that we have reached this agreement because
it’s the first of its kind in the mining industry,” said Lauriski.
“NSSGA is again showing its leadership. There is one key phrase in the
agreement that truly sums up this pact: ‘We need a culture of
prevention.’”
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