Mine Enforcement Safety Administration

The Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 was passed 72-0 in the U.S. Senate, establishing the Mine Enforcement Safety Administration (MESA), later known as the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). MSHA governs safety within the coal mines as OSHA does for general industry and construction (discussed below). 

Lower flammability limit Liquefied petroleum gas Maximum allowable concentration Maximum achievable control technology Mine Enforcement Safety Administration Material Handling Institute Material Safety Data Sheet(s)... 

Regulations. The U.S. Bureau of Mines, Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration (MESA) studies hazards and advises on accident prevention. MESA also adrninisters laws dealing with safety in mines. Individual states may also have departments of mines to adrninister state standards. 

Thatcher, Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration Information Report No,... 

A federal enforcement agency responsible for the health and safety of the nation s miners. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), part of the U.S. Labor Department, helps to reduce deaths, injuries, and illnesses in the mining industry through regulation, inspection, and educational activities and programs. The agency develops and enforces safety and health rules applying to all U.S. mines, assists mine operators who have special compliance problems, and provides technical. 

The primary technical criteria for what constitutes a permissible respirator is based on the technical requirements of 30 CFR Part 11 (Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Respiratory Protective Devices and Tests for Permissibility). The proposed health standards will allow only respirators approved by the Bureau of Mines (or Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration (MESA )) and NIOSH under 30 CFR 11. Classes of respirators are only included when at least one device has been approved. 

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. 

This administration, an agency of the Department of Labor, develops and enforces safety and health rules applying to all US mines. They assist mine operators with special compliance problems and issues. The administration also provides technical, educational, and other types of... 

Speaking as amicus curae on Pittsburgh and Midway Coal Mining Company vs. Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration and the UMWA, 1976. 

Cleveland, M. J., Turner, E. (1977). Compilation of judicial decisions which have an impact on coal mine inspection (MESA informational report/1977 1060). Arlington, VA U.S. Department of Labor, Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration. 

Several types of respirators can be used to protect workers from respiratory hazards and each type is made for use in a specific environment. Not all respiratory equipment marketed is approved. Federal regulations require the use of respirators that have been tested and approved by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and NIOSH. Approval numbers are clearly written on all approved respiratory equipment. Management determines that respirators are mandated in certain situations and must be diligent in enforcing compliance. They should not have a policy that requires respirators but leaves compliance up to the employees. 

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has no comparable general duty clause. To date, neither OSHA nor MSHA have referenced the ANSI ZIO standard in any of their standards, but this remains a future possibility that would enhance the stature of the standard in agency enforcement actions. At the present time, ANSI ZIO is strictly voluntary and does not create any specific duties under the OSH Act. Therefore, an employer s failure to implement the programmatic provisions of this consensus standard—absent from other findings—does not constitute a violation of Section 5(a)(1). 

National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health. 2012. An Independent Panel Assessment of an Internal Review of MSHA Enforcement Actions, requested by The Honorable Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of U.S. Department of Labor, March 22,2012. U.S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, http //wwwjnsha.gov/ PerformanceCoal/NIOSH/Independent%20Assessment%20Panel%20Report%20w Errata.pdf, downloaded May 20, 2014. 

Named for the late senator from West Virginia — a mine safety advocate — the measure would have increased the enforcement powers of the Mine Safety Health Administration. With a vote of 214-193, the bill failed to capture the necessary two-thirds majority. 

Congress then scrutinized weaknesses of the 1966 Federal Metal and NorrmetaUic Mine Safety Act. The conflicting role of the bureau had been addressed in the 1973 administrative decision to separate enforcement and inspection from research, which often focused on production and productivity. The criticism that led to establishing MESA was reinforced strongly by the visibility of the following two other noncoal disasters ... 

The focus of mine safety and health regulation is always the safety and health of persons at mines. Thus, compliance with mandatory standards developed pursuant to the Mine Act is the central responsibihty of mine operators and miners. Mandatory standards are the dos and don ts of mine safety and health. The standards are pubhshed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CER). Also pub-hshed in this same volume are various administrative regulations associated with enforcement. 

Federal regulations with the greatest impact on the mining industry are those promulgated (i.e., published) by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ... 

The 1977 Act consolidated metal and coal mines under a single set of standards and transferred the functions of the former MESA (under the Bureau of Mines) to the newly created Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The 1977 Act thus placed the responsibility for worker safety within the Department of Labor and removed the potential conflict of interest that might occur if MESA inspectors interrupted production to enforce health and safety standards. 

The Mine Safety and Health Administration is seeking changes that would give it more enforcement power to use at mines with a history of violating safety and health standards. A proposal to revise the pattern of violations rule would revise and simplify the POV criteria and MSHA s procedures for issuing a POV notice. 

MSHA The Mine Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor federal agency with safety and health regulatory and enforcement authority for the mining industry established the Mine Safety and Health Act,... 

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