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MSHA News Release: [09/08/2003]
Contact Name: Rodney
Brown
Phone Number: (202) 693-9425
MSHA Issues Final Rule on Mine Emergency Actions
ARLINGTON, Va.—The U.S.
Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today
announced it will issue a final rule specifying actions mine operators must
take in the event of an underground coal mine emergency. The new rule
supercedes an emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued by MSHA in December
2002 in response to investigative findings surrounding the Sept. 23, 2001,
explosion at Jim Walter Resources Mine #5 in Brookwood, Ala., that claimed the
lives of 13 miners.
“Often during emergency situations, confusion, disorientation, and
questions about what to do or how to proceed can inhibit and delay sound
decision-making and leadership,” said Dave D. Lauriski, assistant
secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “This new rule establishes
a single point of contact for miners underground to look to for guidance in the
event of a mine emergency and it provides for better training of miners to
prepare for such situations. This rule provides one more tool to help send more
miners home safe at the end of every working day.”
As with the ETS, the new rule requires operators of underground coal
mines to designate, for each shift that miners work underground, a responsible
person to take charge during a mine fire, explosion and gas or water inundation
emergency. The new rule requires the responsible person to initiate and conduct
an immediate evacuation of the mine when there is a mine emergency that
presents an imminent danger to miners.
The new rule also broadens the existing requirements for a program of
instruction for firefighting and evacuation to address fire, explosion, and gas
or water inundation emergencies. In addition, the new rule amends Part 48 of
CFR 30, Mineral Resources, to require that annual refresher training for miners
include a review of the emergency evacuation and firefighting plans in effect
at their mine.
Full text of the rule can be found on MSHA’s website at
www.msha.gov. The final rule becomes effective on Tues., Sept. 9, 2003.
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