Petition for Modification
August 07, 2001
PROPOSED DECISION AND ORDER
In The Matter Of
New Tech Oil Company
Docket No. M-2001-002-M
30 CFR § 57.19054
Background
On January 2, 2001, New Tech Oil Company (New Tech) filed a petition for modification of 30 CFR § 57.19054 (Rope Guides), at the North Tisdale Shaft #1 Mine, (I.D. No. 48-01147), located in Johnson County, Wyoming. The mine is an underground petroleum operation.
Standard 57.19054, Rope Guides, provides:
Where rope guides are used in shafts other than in shaft sinking operations, the rope guides shall be a type of lock coil construction.
New Tech alleged that the alternative method outlined in the petition would at all times guarantee no less than the same measure of protection for miners as afforded by the standard.
New Tech requested to use bridge strand wire rope in lieu of locked coil wire rope on the mine hoist. The company has agreed to the same terms and conditions which were applied to the previous modification of 30 CFR 57.19-54, granted at the mine in 1984, and subsequently revoked in 1994.
On March 21-22, 2001, MSHA investigators conducted an investigation relevant to the merits of the petition and filed a report of their findings and recommendations with the Administrator for Metal and Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health. After a careful review of the entire record, including the petition and MSHA's investigative report and recommendations, this Proposed Decision and Order is issued.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
MSHA agrees that the alternative method proposed by the Petitioner, with the conditions listed below, would guarantee no less than the same measure of protection afforded by 30 CFR
§ 57.19054. The use of bridge strand wire rope in lieu of locked coil constructed wire ropes, has been used without incident for many years. New Tech had a petition involving this standard and at the petitioner's request the granted petition was revoked on February 15, 1994.
ORDER
Wherefore, pursuant to the authority delegated by the Secretary of Labor to the Administrator for Metal and Nonmetal, and pursuant to Section 101(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. §811(c), it is ordered that a modification of 30 CFR § 57.19054 based upon an alternative method of providing individual wire rope guides at the New Tech Oil Company's North Tisdale Shaft #1 Mine, is hereby:
Granted, conditioned upon compliance with the following:
1. The wire rope guides shall be lubricated annually to minimize wear and corrosion.
2. The wire rope guides shall be rotated a half turn annually to distribute wear around the circumference of the wire rope.
3. The wire rope guides shall be inspected annually to determine problems with broken wires or uneven wear patterns. During this inspection, special attention shall be given to the sockets at the ends of the wire rope guides.
This granted petition for modification is subject to review by the Administrator for Metal and Nonmetal and may be revised if a change in circumstances occurs, or findings which originally supported the terms or conditions of this granted modification are no longer valid.
/s/ Earnest C. Teaster, Jr.
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Earnest C. Teaster, Jr.
Administrator for
Metal and Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health