Released Tuesday, November 3, 1998

MSHA Announces Public Meetings On Training for Stone, Sand and Gravel Miners

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will hold a series of public meetings to discuss training regulations the Agency is developing for miners at sand and gravel operations, rock quarries and certain other surface nonmetal mines. As directed by Congress in the FY 1999 budget, MSHA will develop final training regulations by September 30, 1999 to apply at mines where MSHA now is prohibited from expending or obligating funds to enforce existing miner training requirements.

"This is a major step forward," said J. Davitt McAteer, assistant labor secretary for mine safety and health. "Congress has given us the green light, and we plan to move ahead in a deliberative and focused manner to create training standards designed for all of these miners. We would like to encourage everyone in these industries -- miners as well as mine operators -- to attend these meetings and give us their thoughts on what the new training regulations should look like."

Approximately 10,000 mines and 125,000 miners will be affected by the proposed training regulations -- 9,500 of those sites are quarries and sand and gravel operations (aggregates).

Section 115 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 requires that each mine operator have a health and safety program for its miners. Congress indicated in the Department of Labor's appropriations bill for FY 1999 that this will be the last year these appropriations include language prohibiting MSHA from expending funds to enforce miner training requirements in sand, gravel and surface stone operations. The prohibition, which also covers a few other surface nonmetal operations such as clay mines, has been in place since FY 1980.

McAteer underscored the urgency of providing effective training for these miners. "With the recent passage of a $217 billion highway construction bill, we project that the demand for crushed stone used in building new roads may increase by about 40 percent," he said. "This means a surge in jobs, many of them going to new, inexperienced miners. These miners deserve an effective training program so that they can recognize hazards and safe procedures to avoid accidents."

MSHA anticipates that a final rule would implement the training and retraining requirements contained in Section 115 of the Mine Act and ensure that miners receive effective training, while at the same time addressing the particular needs of the identified segments of the mining industry.

Meetings are scheduled at several locations throughout the country to give miners, their representatives and mine operators, both small and large, a chance to present their views on what types of requirements will result in the most effective miner training.

The locations of these public meetings are as follows:

Dec. 7, 1998 Hilton Hotel, 2855 N. Milwaukee Ave., Northbrook, Ill.
Dec. 9, 1998 Embassy Suites Hotel, 4444 N. Havana St., Denver, Colo.
Dec. 11, 1998 Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Albany, N.Y.
Dec. 15, 1998 Embassy Suites Hotel, 7900 NE 82nd Ave., Portland, Ore.
Dec. 17, 1998 Doubletree Hotel, 222 N. Vineyard Ave., Ontario, Calif.
Jan. 5, 1999 Hotel Adolphus, 1321 Commerce St., Dallas, Texas
Jan. 7, 1999 Georgia International Convention Center, College Park, Ga.

Each meeting will last from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but will continue into the evening if necessary, to hear from as many participants as is reasonably possible. To help plan the meeting, MSHA is asking that those who would like to make oral presentations notify MSHA, Office of Standards, Regulations and Variances, Room 631, 4015 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va., 22203, (703) 235-1910. Persons who may not have signed up in advance of the meeting also may speak.