Today is Worker’s Memorial Day, the day we remember those worker’s who have lost their life doing their daily work. MSHA posted this memorial including six from this year. Visit our Fatality Dashboard to see information on all 2020 and 2021 mine fatalities.
Two unique NIOSH programs bring vital safety and health screening directly to miners.
Mobile Hearing Tests & Health Screening Units – In 1999, the NIOSH Mining Program expanded its research into noise-induced hearing loss by developing a 32-foot long trailer into a mobile laboratory. Using a sound insulated booth, NIOSH personnel can conduct hearing tests and hearing protection evaluations at mine sites. The Mobile Hearing Loss Prevention Unit has traveled to mine sites, conferences, and other community outreach activities since 1999. While the trailer is not currently in use due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to resuming visits to conferences and other mining events throughout the country to provide hearing tests and other hearing loss prevention guidance.
NIOSH also operates a mobile health screening program called the Enhanced Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP). The ECWHSP, an extension of the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP), was developed in collaboration with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to reduce potential barriers to participation in the screening program and investigate the trends of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, also referred to as “black lung.” The program is staffed by trained NIOSH personnel who provide screening services to coal miners across the U.S. through two state-of-the-art mobile testing units.
On March 12, 2021, a 63 year old mine manager with 43 years mining experience and 7 years at the task* was fatally injured while attempting to insert a steel pin into a spud beam at a sand & gravel mine with 5 employees*.
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Additional Information:
This is the seventh fatality reported in 2021, and the first classified as “Handling Material.” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data.)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).
This slide presentation, compiled in 2010, provides detailed information to help the metal and nonmetal mining industry meet MSHA’s requirements for guarding conveyor belts. Photos of a variety of situations show the right and wrong ways to construct guards that protect miners from exposure to conveyor belt moving parts and satisfy MSHA regulations. The information supplements guarding guidance in MSHA’s 2004 Guide to Equipment Guarding and Program Policy Manual.
On March 5, 2021, a 63 year old mine manager* was fatally injured when the excavator he was operating rolled over into a body of water at a sand and gravel mine with 5 employees in Mount Sterling, IL*.
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This is the sixth fatality reported in 2021, and the second classified as “Machinery.” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data.)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).
On Feb. 25, 2021, a 26-year old plant operator died after entering a cyclone discharge box at an industrial sand mine with 9 employees in West Valley City, Nevada*. The local fire department recovered the victim lodged in an 18-inch wide discharge pipe that was full of water.
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This is the fifth fatality reported in 2021, and the first classified as “Slip or Fall of Person.” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data.)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).
When do you need a new pair of work shoes? Don’t wait until they cost you a painful slip and fall. This CDC/NIOSH graphic is available in English and Spanish. Download it and use it in training or post for employees to read. Of all the tools we should inspect before use your shoes may be the one you actually use the most but don’t even think about it. A new pair of workshoes may seem expensive if you think you can extend them a few weeks with some duct tape, but they don’t come even close to costing as much as a hospital visit even if you aren’t paying the bill.
MSHA has issued guidance intended for miners and operators in coal, metal, or nonmetal mines to help them identify risks of being exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, at work and to help them determine appropriate control measures to reduce such risk. This guidance contains recommendations, as well as descriptions of mandatory safety and health standards. It is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. The recommendations are advisory in nature, informational in content, and are intended to assist operators in recognizing and abating hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm from the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) as part of their obligation to provide a safe and healthful mine.
Operators should implement COVID-19 Prevention Programs at each mine. Operators may consider a stand-alone program or additions to existing training and education programs. The most effective programs engage miners and miner representatives in the program’s development, and include the following key elements:
On Feb. 22, 2021, a 26-year-old underground chute puller was fatally injured as a passenger of a rail-mounted locomotive when he was crushed between the deck of the locomotive and an overhead chute at a lead-zinc ore underground mine with 114 employees in Strawberry Plains, TN*.
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Additional Information:
This is the 4th fatality reported in 2021, and the third classified as “Powered Haulage.” *(details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), final report (pdf).