Mine Safety and Health Administration
Contact: Amy Louviere
Phone: (703) 235-1452
Released Tuesday, July 18, 2000
MSHA Offers Mine Safety Training in Northern Nevada
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will hold two training sessions in northern Nevada for miners and mine operators.
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"We encourage miners, mine operators and all others who are interested in mine safety to attend these sessions," said Davitt McAteer, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "They are part of our ‘Spotlight on Training' initiative, which will run through Labor Day."
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The sessions are free of charge.
At each session MSHA training specialists will present four courses:
- --Miners' Rights;
--Supervisory Responsibilities;
--Task Training; and
–Take Responsibility for Accident Prevention (TRAP).
Monday, July 24, 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., Elko County Library, 720 Court St., Elko Tuesday, July 25, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Winnemucca Convention Center, 25 West 5th St., Winnemucca
MSHA's "Spotlight on Training" initiative responds to a disturbing rise in fatalities in the Nevada mining industry, particularly in gold mining. Between 1990 and 1999, 34 of the nation's 62 gold mine fatalities occurred in Nevada. In 1999 alone, eight of Nevada's nine mining fatalities occurred in gold mines – nearly 10 percent of mining deaths nationwide. So far this year, two miners have died in accidents at Nevada gold mines.
> "We encourage the Nevada mining community -- miners, mine operators, State officials and the academic community -- to continue the work we recently began to attack the problem of increased mining fatalities in Nevada," McAteer said. "The presence of the mine rescue contest in Las Vegas this week helps to remind us of the need for strong preventative efforts."
> The National and International Metal and Nonmetal Mine Rescue Competition is taking place Wednesday July 19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
For further information on the classes, contact MSHA's Western Regional Office of Educational Field Services at (303) 231-5434.
