Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act

CMHSA Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act... 

Seixas, N. S.. Robins, T. G., Attfield, M. D. Moulton, L. K 1992. Exposure-response relationships for coal-mine dust and obstructive lung-disease following enactment of the Federal Coal-Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 21, 715-734. 

Generally, the fatality incident rate declined steadily over the years since 1911, but it dropped most rapidly after World War II (1946-1950) and following the passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (1971-1975) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 (1976-1980). There were a few exceptions where progress stalled however, as we wiU discuss in greater detail, a combination of factors has led to enormous strides in increased safety in the twentieth century. 

As MSHA states (MSHA 1999), the death of 222 miners in 1967, 311 in 1968, the Farmington disaster, and the death of over 170 miners in non-disaster type accidents since Farmington now surrounds the consideration of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-173). Seventy-eight miners died in the Farmington, West Virginia, explosion, which galvanized Congress to take swift action. MSHA summarizes the major provisions of the 1969 act as follows ... 

During the 1960s accident frequency rates suddenly increased nearly 33%. In response. Congress became actively involved in enacting legislation to place controls on workplace safety. The first federal statnte to include noncoal mines was the 1966 Federal Metal and Nonmetallic Mine Safety Act. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-173) preceded the Occupa-... 

The very forceful penalties prescribed for violation of the Mine Act did not, for the most part, originate with that law in 1977. Rather, they were introduced under a predecessor statute, the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. A large portion of the Labor Department s existing Mine Act interpretations grew out of the 1969 Coal Act. That Act was enforced by the United States Department of the Interior, and specifically by the Bureau of Mines (later the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration [MESA]) within the Interior Department. 

The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 mandated that approved respiratory equipment be made available to personnel when exposed to respirable dust concentrations greater than 2.0 mg/m. However, this equipment cannot be used in lieu of achieving the 2.0 mg/w standard. 

In the United States there has been a most exciting change in the mine-fire incidence. In 1970, the regulations of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 were implemented. Many regulations were related to fire, but the most important, in our opinion, were those that ... 

U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee Labor Standards. (1977). To amend the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act H.R. 4287. March 29, 1977. 95th Cong., 1st Sess. (Hearings). Washington, DC U.S. Govern ment Printing Office. 

EEOC Interpretive Guidelines, 56 Fed. Reg. 35,751 (July 26,1991). Federally mandated periodic examinations include such laws as the Rehabilitation Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, Federal Coal Mine Health Act, and numerous transportation laws, t ADA Section 102(c). 

In 1870, the first legislation on mine health and safety was passed in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Public Law 3) in response to outrage about the extent of death and injury. As shown in Table 1.1 (Anon. 1997), mine disasters were just beginning to become visible in the United States before 1875, and Pennsylvania took early action to stem the tide. The Pennsylvania Act was an act providing for the health and safety of persons employed in coal mines. It also formed the basis for eventual legislation in other states, as well as for federal legislative actions. 

Federal Coal Mine Safety and Health Amendment Act... 

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act Dangerous Cargo Act Federal Coal Mining Safety Health Act Federal Food Drug Cosmetic Act Federal Insecticide, Fungicide Rodent Act Federal Water Pollution Control Act Hazardous Materials Transport Act Occupational Safety and Health Act Safe Drinking Water Act Toxic Substance Control Act... 

There have been three legislative initiatives in the United States since the Depression, each immediately following a major disaster the 1941 Mines Inspection Act followed an explosion in West Virginia which killed 91 miners the 1952 Federal Coal Mine Act followed an Illinois explosion which claimed 119 lives and the 1969 Coal Mine Safety and Health Act followed the Farmington, West Virginia explosion in which 78 died (Braithwaite 1985, p. 78). Fatality rates declined sharply after the passage of the 1941 Act. They remained on a plateau after the passage of the 1952 Act but... 

Over time, federal regulatory poHcy on the issue of independent contractor liability ran from one extreme to the other under the 1969 Coal Act at one point, the Interior Board of Mine Operations Appeals (Affinity Mining Co. 1973) held that the key to Hability as an operator was determined by the locus of responsibihty for the health and safety of the miners in question, and that while more than one person may fall technically within the definition of operator, only the one responsible for the violations and the safety of employees can be the person served with notices and orders and against whom civil penalties may be assessed. At the other end of the spectrum, after a district court ruling that independent construction contractors were not within the definition of operator and could not be held liable for violations, the Secretary of the Interior (before that district court judgment was reversed in the D.C. Circuit) instructed all federal mine safety inspectors to issue citations for independent contractor violations only to the operator who hired the contractor (Association of Bituminous Contractors 1975). 

The 1966 amendments only reached a small portion of the cause.s of fatalitie.s and accidents occurring in mines. The larger number of such occurrences lay outside and beyond the reach of the Federal statute, and was left by Congress to be embraced by State laws and the Bureau of Mines Advisory Coal Mine Safety Code. (The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977). 

Independent Contractors Working for the Mine Operator As explained in Chapter 7, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 ( Mine Act ) makes the operator responsible for all safety and health responsibilities and compliance obUgations at a mine. Who is a mine operator thus becomes the critical inquiry. Under the Mine Act today, the operator is defined to mean any owner, lessee, or other person who operates, controls, or supervises a coal or other mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at such a mine (30USC 802(d)(1994). To fuUy understand the law in this area, a little history is a must (See Vish et al. 1989 Hardy and McCambley 1997). 

---