ARLINGTON, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has awarded $10,537,000 in grant funding to reduce mining accidents, injuries, and illnesses by supporting safety and health courses, and other programs. The awards were made to 47 states, the Navajo Nation, Guam, and Native Village of Barrow.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) joined U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta for a mine safety tour of ICG Beckley, LLC’s Pocahontas Beckley Mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), which is an agency within the Department of Labor, also participated in the mine safety tour.

ARLINGTON, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today published two proposed rules in the Federal Register that would change the Agency’s final rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines that was published on Jan. 23, 2017.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is announcing immediate action to address a longstanding issue by implementing an action plan for employees who do not meet the Agency’s medical standards. Some employees have not met medical standards for several years.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today that – for the third consecutive year – none of the nation’s more than 13,000 mining operations meets the criteria for a Pattern of Violations notice. The screening period started on July 1, 2016, and ended on June 30, 2017.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Improvements in roof control technology in underground coal mines have significantly reduced accidents involving roof and rib falls or coal bursts, but such accidents remain a leading cause of injuries, reports the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. Since 2013, roof and rib falls or coal bursts led to the deaths of five continuous mining machine operators, and injured 83 other operators.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Data recently compiled between October 2015 and March 2017 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration shows that less experienced miners – both at a mine and at a specific occupation – suffer injuries at a higher rate than more experience miners. Over this 18-month period, miners with one year or less of experience at a mine suffered 903 injuries, compared to 418 for those who had worked at a mine between one and two years.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today it has awarded $250,000 to five organizations to develop training programs and materials to better identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around mines.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today it is extending the effective date of the agency’s final rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines until Oct. 2, 2017.

WASHINGTON – In the first three months of 2017, five miners died in accidents that occurred when they were working alone on mine property. To raise awareness of the potential dangers in doing so, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched an initiative to focus on the hazards miners may encounter when they work in areas away from others.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Excavating rock from the Mt. Marion Pit and Mill, a common shale operation in Ulster County, New York, involves drilling blast holes and packing them with explosives. After detonation, the loose material is loaded into haul trucks, transported to a processing plant and turned into construction aggregate.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a delay in the effective date of the final rule on Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines from May 23, 2017, to July 24, 2017.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration is proposing to delay the effective date to assure that mine operators and miners affected by the final rule have the training and compliance assistance they need.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today the availability of up to $1 million in grants for education and training programs to help identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around the nation’s mines.

Who: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration

What: The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced federal inspectors issued 132 citations and two orders during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and five metal and nonmetal mines in December 2016.

Where: MSHA conducted special impact inspections at mines in Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced today it will issue its Final Rule for Examination of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines. The new rule will be published in the Federal Register on Jan. 23, 2017, and go into effect on May 23, 2017.

The final rule improves miner safety and health in three primary areas, requiring that:

ARLINGTON, Va. – Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration indicate that in 2016, 26 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines – down from 29 in 2015. The figure represents the lowest number of mining deaths ever recorded and only the second year that mining deaths dropped below 30. Currently, approximately 330,000 miners work in more than 13,000 U.S. mines.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration indicate that in 2016, 26 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines – down from 29 in 2015. The figure represents the lowest number of mining deaths ever recorded and only the second year that mining deaths dropped below 30. Currently, approximately 330,000 miners work in more than 13,000 U.S. mines.

Who: U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration

What: The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced federal inspectors issued 152 citations and five orders during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and seven metal and nonmetal mines in November 2016.

Where: MSHA conducted special impact inspections at mines in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

Who: U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration

What: The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced federal inspectors issued 130 citations and one safeguard during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and five metal and nonmetal mines in October 2016.

Where: MSHA conducted special impact inspections at mines in Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has successfully obtained a permanent injunction against Sullivan Granite Co. LLC and its owner, Conrad J. Smith, ordering him to correct all safety hazards at Brown’s Meadow Quarry in Sullivan, Maine, and prohibiting him from refusing agency inspectors entry to conduct safety inspections.