What is the MSHA MINER Act?
The MSHA MINER Act is the most recent bill passed in Congress at the end of 2016. It has been proposed to replace the current mining safety law, which dates back to 1969. Many of its provisions do not align with existing technology or industry standards. The MSHA MINER Act will ensure that more miners have access to additional technology available on the market today, such as improved real-time mapping capabilities or self-rescue devices.
The MSHA MINER Act will “modify the current regulatory structure to focus on improving worker safety in surface mines and underground mines. The legislation also requires mining employers to adopt a safety management system and develop plans for eliminating mining-related fatalities (MRFs) in the U.S.”
It is estimated that there have been over 1,000 fatalities every year since 2000 in the U.S., totaling over 7,500 lives lost since 2000 due to unsafe conditions created by outdated mining laws. This has been a concern for many miners, their families, and the American people. Congress has recently taken action to improve these standards for the miners by proposing this piece of legislation.
Bill Number: H.R. 4731
The MSHA MINER Act is the most recent bill passed in Congress at the end of 2016. It has been proposed to replace the current mining safety law, which dates back to 1969. Many of its provisions do not align with existing technology or industry standards. The MSHA MINER Act will ensure that more miners have access to additional technology available on the market today, such as improved real-time mapping capabilities or self-rescue devices.
The MSHA MINER Act requires that each federal mine be equipped with at least one, but no more than two, of each type of self-rescue device available to miners. The MSHA MINER Act also serves as a modern replacement for the current law regarding safety operations standards in underground and surface mines. MSHA MINER Act will “modify the existing regulatory structure to focus on improving worker safety in surface mines and underground mines.
The MSHA MINER Act will ensure that more miners have access to additional technology available on the market today, such as improved real-time mapping capabilities or self-rescue devices. The MSHA MINER Act also serves as a modern replacement for the current law regarding safety operations standards in underground and surface mines. The MSHA MINER Act will “modify the existing regulatory structure to focus on improving worker safety in surface mines and underground mines.
This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at https://beckerwmsusa.com/ For over 15 years, Becker Communications has been the industry’s leader in increasingly more sophisticated electrical mining communication systems. As they expanded into surface mining, railroads, and tunneling they added wireless communication systems, handheld radios, tagging and tracking systems, as well as gas monitoring.