Coal

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Arlington, VA — As the Mine Safety and Health Administration works to develop a standard on worker exposure to respirable crystalline silica, the agency has launched an enforcement initiative aimed at boosting protections against the hazardous material.

Washington — Proposed legislation that would ease access to health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease is advancing in the House.

Washington — Proposed legislation would create funding for health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease by extending, for 10 years, a recently expired excise tax rate increase on coal production.

Washington — NIOSH has finalized the beta version of an online software tool designed to provide post-shift assessments of mine worker exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

Washington — NIOSH has planned a series of free, confidential health screenings for current and former coal miners via the agency’s Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program.

Washington — Health care workers will be the focus of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard on COVID-19, which will be issued June 10, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told the House Education and Labor Committee during a June 9 hearing.

Chicago — Physicians contracted by mine operators to review chest X-rays of coal miners who file “totally debilitating disease” workers’ compensation claims with the Department of Labor’s Federal Black Lung Program may have a bias strongly related to financial conflict of interest, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago suggest.

Arlington, VA — Criteria for the certification of coal mine rescue teams will “remain in effect, without changes,” the Mine Safety and Health Administration announced Sept. 1, after completing a requisite review under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has determined that the annual training requirements outlined in its Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines rule supply “an experience sufficient to enable miners to apply their knowledge, other training and available written instruction to effectively use the refuge alternative in an emergency.”

Washington — After weighing public and stakeholder input, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has rescinded a program policy letter intended to clarify requirements for providing emergency escapeways for underground metal and nonmetal miners, determining that the clarification “is not needed.”