One of the Secretary of Labor’s goals for the U.

S.

workforce is helping American workers gain and hold good, safe jobs.

One of the Department’s strategic goals is to “Promote Safe Jobs and Fair Workplaces for All Americans.” MSHA’s role in accomplishing

credit:

this objective is to “prevent fatalities, disease, and injury from mining and secure safe and healthful working conditions for America’s miners.” The Secretary of Labor, through MSHA, may award grants to state, tribal, and territorial governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to assist them in developing and enforcing state mining laws and regulations, to improve state workers’ compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and to improve safety and health conditions in the nation’s mines through federal-state coordination and cooperation.MSHA recognizes that state training programs are a key source of mine safety and health training and education for individuals who work or will work at mines.

MSHA encourages state training programs to prioritize training for small mining operations.

MSHA is also interested in supporting programs that include training on miners’ statutory rights, including the right to a safe working environment and the right to refuse an unsafe task.

The Agency encourages grantees to focus on programs that include education and training related to occupational health hazards caused by exposures to respirable dust and diesel exhaust.

MSHA also encourages recipients to focus training on powered haulage safety, conducting working place examinations, mine emergency preparedness, donning and transferring self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs), mine rescue, training for contractors, and electrical safety.The Agency encourages grantees to focus training programs on causes of fatal accidents that occurred in the mining industry.

More information about fatalities can be found on MSHA’s webpage at https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/fatality-reports/search.