The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) helps to reduce deaths, injuries, and illnesses in the nation's mines with a variety of activities and programs. The Agency develops and enforces safety and health rules for all U.S. mines, and provides technical, educational and other types of assistance to mine operators. MSHA works cooperatively with industry, labor, and other Federal and state agencies to improve safety and health conditions for all miners in the United States. MSHA's responsibilities are spelled out in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act), as amended by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006.
Coverage
The Mine Act applies to all mining and mineral processing operations in the United States, regardless of size, number of employees, or method of extraction. Thus, MSHA covers two-person sand and gravel pits as well as large underground coal mines and processing plants.
Organizational Structure
MSHA was created in 1978, when the Mine Act transferred the Federal mine safety program from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Labor.
MSHA is headed by an Assistant Secretary of Labor who administers a broad regulatory program to reduce injuries and illnesses in mining. Mine safety and health laws, rules and regulations are enforced by MSHA's two mining sector program areas:
Other offices that have important roles in improving mine safety and health and carrying out the mission of MSHA include:
The Changing Mandate
The nation's first federal mine safety law was enacted in the late 1800s; over the 20th century, many increasingly stronger pieces of legislation followed. The 1977 law that MSHA administers today combined and extended previous mining laws.
Among other changes, the Mine Act extended to metal and nonmetal miners legal protections similar to those coal miners already had, and it further unified the federal mine safety and health program and generally strengthened miner protection in all types of mining.
The Mine Act requires MSHA to make at least four complete inspections of all underground operations yearly and at least two inspections a year at surface mines. Other provisions call for issuing detailed regulations on basic safety and health training for miners, upgrading and strengthening many existing mine safety and health laws, changes in the civil penalty system applying to rules violators, and greater participation of miners or their representatives in mine safety and health activities.
The MINER Act, the most significant mine safety legislation in 30 years, amended the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and contained a number of provisions to improve safety in America's mines. The law further improved mine safety nationwide, by increasing training, upgrading mining standards, improving mine emergency response and requiring enhanced technology underground for post-disaster communications.
For more information on MSHA, contact: