Each December 6th, we celebrate National Miners Day to recognize and applaud the skill, dedication, and hard work miners put into providing many of the products essential to fulfilling America's most vital needs.
America's miners have historically been an invaluable part of our nation's workforce, supplying the minerals and raw materials for many critical needs like communications, energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Today, thousands of miners supply the iron and coal necessary to produce steel, the sand and gravel needed to build our roads and bridges, and the copper and other important minerals essential to manufacturing electronics and batteries for electrical vehicles.
We honor current, retired, and former miners, including those we've lost in fatal mining accidents and to occupational illnesses such as black lung disease and silicosis. In doing so, we recommit to ensuring that miners' safety and health must always be the first priority and concern in mining.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) honors miners through our commitment to their well-being, both during and after their service. This year, MSHA's commitment to miners' health and safety resulted in major achievements on their behalf:
- Silica Rule: The agency finalized its rule to protect miners from exposure to toxic silica dust, ensuring a safer work environment and a brighter future after retirement.
- Combatting Opioid Use Disorder: MSHA, with partner NIOSH, released the Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) Resource Guide, which provides mine operators, occupational safety and health managers, and others with actionable tools to plan and implement workplace interventions to prevent OUD among workers.
- Surface Mobile Equipment Safety Rule: MSHA began enforcement of the final rule requiring mine operators to have written safety programs for surface mobile equipment (excluding belt conveyors) at surface mines and surface areas of underground mines. In recent years, powered haulage equipment and machinery have been leading causes of serious and fatal mine accidents, and this final rule is a key part of MSHA's overall effort to improve safety in equipment usage.
MSHA continues to advance our mission every day, working to ensure that miners' health, safety, and rights are protected, and their work is acknowledged and celebrated.