Mining
lborkowski | August 22, 2010An August 5th collapse at the San Jose gold and copper mine in Chile's Atacama region trapped 33 miners hundreds of meters underground. Rescue teams had been drilling toward a refuge site, where it was hoped the miners had been able to take shelter - and earlier today, a probe sent down into the mine came back with a note saying "all 33 of us are fine in the shelter."
Chileans have flocked to plazas to celebrate, and the newspaper La Tercera compares it to the delight that greeted Chile's World Cup wins. After 17 anxious days of waiting for news, the miners' families are overjoyed.
It will…
cmonforton | August 13, 2010Updated (8/15/10 2:00 pm EST) below
Mine rescue teams continue their search to rescue or recover two workers struck by a "large surge of pressure" as they were being lowered into a mine shaft at Barrick's Meikle mine near Elko, Nevada. As the Associated Press reports, the incident occurred on Thursday, August 12 at 1:15 am local time. As of 2:00 pm (EST) on August 13, MSHA did not have information on its website about the incident.
An inspection by three federal mine inspectors of Barrick's Meikle mine was ongoing at the time of the incident. (Like underground coal mines, other underground…
cmonforton | July 2, 2010The Mine Safety and Health Administration took an important step yesterday to meet a goal set in the Labor Secretary's regulatory agenda: proposing a rule to prevent black lung disease. According to data on RegInfo.gov MSHA submitted yesterday a proposed rule entitled "Lowering Miners' Exposure to Coal Mine Dust Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors"to OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Typically, OIRA will take 60-90 days to complete their review.
Mine workers in the U.S. continue to develop debilitating lung diseases from exposure to respirable coal and…
lborkowski | June 30, 2010Mine explosions in China and Columbia in recent weeks have killed a total of 120 mineworkers.
An explosion in a coal mine in Antioquia, Colombia, killed 73 mineworkers; a total of 160 were in the mine at the time of the blast, and 90 escaped. Gas accumulations prevented rescue and recovery teams from entering the mine immediately. RCN Radio reports that in the previous five years, 71 miners were killed and another 4 left missing from 18 explosions in Colombian mines.
Explosives stored in a mine shaft went off and killed 47 miners in the Xingdong No. 2 coal mine in China's Henan province on…
cmonforton | June 22, 2010MSHA took another step toward openness by posting on its website the "preliminary report of accident" form for the most recent fatal injury incidents at US mining operations. The MSHA Form 7000-13 is the first record made by agency personnel when they are notified of a worker death, serious injury or other reportable event such as roof falls and inundations. I've always appreciated that MSHA attempts to post within 2-3 weeks some information on its website about recent fatalities--in the form of "Fatalgrams"----but the 7000-13 reports are a terrific addition. I think some credit may be due…
lborkowski | May 31, 2010
New Solutions: The Drawing Board is a monthly feature produced by the journal New Solutions. Read more about it here.
Note from the editor of New Solutions: The Drawing Board: In the spirit of international solidarity, The Drawing Board has begun featuring articles from activists, researchers, and workers from around the world. It is our belief that we cannot effectively fight for social, economic and environmental justice in isolation, but instead must learn from and support one another. The parallels between Mexican workers' grievances and environmental catastrophes in Ethiopia are often…
cmonforton | May 15, 2010I can't keep up with Ken Ward Jr.'s coverage of the trouble brewing, battle, strong difference of opinion between Secretary Hilda Solis/MSHA Asst. Secretary Joe Main and the United Mine Workers (UMWA), family members of deceased coal miners and journalists about the Department of Labor's decision to have closed-door interviews of witnesses as part of the Massey Upper Big Branch disaster investigation.
Lest you think the press and blogs are the only way to take the pulse of the public, think again. Mr. Dennis O'Dell, the current UMWA H&S director, is sharing his disgust about MSHA's…
cmonforton | May 15, 2010As I noted in "Perplexed by OSHA's reg agenda," I've made a habit of commenting on the content of the Dept of Labor's semi-annual regulatory agenda [see links below]. I'll be the first to admit that our system for protecting workers from well-known hazards with new regulations is onerous and anything but nimble. It needs an overhaul. The obstacles, roadblacks and challenges plague OSHA, but these administrative and burden-of-proof hurdles DO NOT apply to MSHA. Here are just two examples of what I mean:
MSHA merely has to demonstrate that its decision is not arbitrary and capricious; a…
sb admin | September 17, 2009Today, Andrew Schneider at Cold Truth tells us that way back in April, acting Surgeon General Steven Galson issued a long-awaited statement about the dangers of asbestos, a statement urged for years by asbestos-disease victims, their families and public health advocates.  Galson's action was so stealth (intentionally, perhaps?) that the individuals who had been calling for it were never even notified--Not the Senators who marshalled a  Senate Resolution urging a Surgeon General's warning or the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) who supported the congressional…
sb admin | September 14, 2009 Earlier this month, the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center (ACLC) sent a petition to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) urging the agency to revise its regulations on respirable coal mine dust to better protect mine workers from pneumoconiosis and other disabling respiratory ailments.  The ACLC's motto is "Working for Justice in the Appalachian Coalfields."  The ACLC's petition is just the latest in a long list of calls on MSHA to put an end to black lung and silicosis---diseases that are 100% preventable.  I personally believe there should be no higher regulatory…
sb admin | September 10, 2009The Mountain Eagle ( Whitesburg, KY) reports that coal miner Scott Howard was retaliated against by management at Arch Coal's Cumberland River Coal Co. mine for his safety complaints and other protected activity. In "Judge Agrees with finding that miner was being punished," the paper notes that an administrative law judge (ALJ) with the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (MSHRC) ordered that Mr. Howard be reinstated. The ALJ's decision comes about two weeks after a hearing on the matter.
Here's the full text of the 9/9/09 article from The Mountain Eagle:
An…
sb admin | August 19, 2009Our colleague Mark Catlin (SEIU and APHA OHS Section) has done it again, finding another amazing collection of historical films with worker safety themes. The latest were produced by the U.S. Federal Security Agency's Office of Education in 1944, entitled "Problems in Supervision: Instructing Workers on the Job."  They were produced for the federal government by Caravel Films.  Mark's loaded one on YouTube he's called "How not to do safety training" (00:01:06). Â
You'll meet Mary, the new drill press operator, Fred the guy assigned to show her how to do the job, and their boss…
sb admin | August 12, 2009I'm reading a wonderful collection of public health success stories, in the collection assembled by John W. Ward and Christian Warren entitled "Silent Victories: The History and Practice of Public Health in 20th Century America"Â (Oxford, 2007.)Â Our colleagues Tony Robbins and Phil Landrigan wrote a chapter on occupational disease and injury prevention, and in it, introduce me to Sir Thomas Legge.Â
He was the UK's first medical Inspector of Factories (appointed in 1897) and he capitalized on his title and training to expose occupational hazards, propose interventions and demonstrate…
sb admin | August 4, 2009I'm not one to keep good news under a bushel basket, but in deference to my perception of some Labor Department protocol, I kept waiting for an official announcement.  But, the news is too good to wait any longer:Â
Secretary Solis has appointed Gregory R. Wagner, MD as the senior official at MSHA until an assistant secretary (Joe Main, nominee) is confirmed. Â
Many of us in the OHS world know Greg for his many years of service at NIOSH, including as director of the division of respiratory disease studies in Morgantown, WV, and as an active member of the American Public Health…
sb admin | August 3, 2009Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will tour the Federal No. 2 mine on Tuesday, Aug 4, one of a couple dozen mines operated by Patriot Coal. DOL's press announcement said she'd be joined by officials from MSHA, the UMWA, WV Governor Joe Manchin and Congressman Alan B. Mollohan. The event includes the tour, examining a rescue chamber on the surface and meeting:
"with miners employed by Federal # 2 for a roundtable discussion."
The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward is reporting that journalists will not be allowed on the mine tour and canât attend the meeting with miners, but the Secretary …
sb admin | August 3, 2009This morning, I read MSHA's fatality report for the April 7 electrocution death of Tadd M. Bainum, 36. Mr. Bainum was a supervisor, and was doing electrical-related work, but had NOT received appropriate training in electrical tasks. MSHA's investigators noted:
"Failure to train [him] in performing the task constituted more than ordinary negligence and is an unwarrantable failure to comply with a mandatory safety standard."
Mr. Bainum's work-related death left behind his wife April and three children, Tristan, 12, Holly, 6 and Lacy, 3.Â
At first glance, the dredging pits where Mr.…
sb admin | July 31, 2009It's long past time to breathe some fresh air into the Department of Labor's Solicitor's Office (SOL). I was hopeful when President Obama nominated M. Patricia Smith in April to serve as the Solicitor of Labor, but since her May 7 confirmation hearing, her appointment is languishing in the Senate HELP committee. The Solicitor's Office has about 600 employees, many of whom are attorneys working in regional offices across the country, and they are supposed to help DOL agencies accomplish their missions by providing legal advice. The mission statement includes, ensuring that the
"…
sb admin | July 21, 2009Steven Cain, 32, reported to work at Massey Energy's Justice No. 1 coal mine at about 3:30 pm on Wednesday, October 8, 2008.   He never returned to his family. At about 11:00 pm that night, he died inside the mine when he was crushed between a loaded supply car and a coal rib (vertical coal wall). The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward reports at Coal Tattoo on the results of MSHA's investigation, including how
"...Massey and the contractor that employed Cain, Mountaineer Labor Solution, received just a tiny slap on the wrist from MSHA. Federal regulators did not cite either company.…
sb admin | July 6, 2009The White House announced today 10 nominations for senior administration positions, including Mr. Joe Main to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health (MSHA).   The biography provided with the announcement notes that he:
"... began working in coal mines in 1967 and quickly became an advocate for miners safety as a union safety committeeman as well as serving in various local union positions in the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). He was employed by the UMWA in 1974 as a Special Assistant to the International President, and joined the UMWA Safety Division…
sb admin | June 29, 2009We are approaching day 160 of the Obama Administration, yet the Solicitor of Labor is not yet in place,  neither are the Assistant Secretaries for most other DOL agencies, including Employment Training Administration, MSHA, OSHA, VETS and Women's Bureau.  Attorney Patricia M. Smith was nominated by President Obama on March 19 to serve as the Solicitor, and her confirmation hearing on May 7 seemed quite tame. I'd not imagined that I'd be writing this blog post 8 weeks after that Senate proceeding, with her nomination stuck in Committee. The slow pace of the Solicitor of Labor's…