A blog focused on OSHA and MSHA compliance in the workplace
by Julia Banegas
How would the Trump administration’s government reorganization plan affect highly technical workplace safety programs, such as OSHA and MSHA? Part of the plan, announced June 21, 2018, proposes merging the Department of Labor (where OSHA and MSHA sit) and the Department Education into a new agency named the “Department of Education and the Workforce.”
The Husch Blackwell MSHA team will host a fall workshop on the topic of Defending Your Company During MSHA Litigation. The event will be held on Tuesday, November 6 through Thursday, November 8 in our Denver, CO office. This two-and-a-half day workshop will cover the legal and procedural processes involved in field inspections, citations and ACRI…
The Trump administration’s recent regulatory agenda boasts that in it, “agencies continue to identify ineffective regulations for revision and repeal.” With several potential rules in the early stages, is MSHA’s agenda on that course, or is it a notable exception?
As the mining industry continues to wait for any new direction at MSHA to reveal itself, last week, MSHA published a request for information (RFI) in the Federal Register that could be the beginning of a new rulemaking on powered haulage equipment. The RFI covers aspects of both surface and underground mines, as well as both coal and metal/non-metal.
As its new workplace exam rule took effect this month, MSHA has been posting sample workplace exam forms that mine operators may wish to use. While MSHA does not explicitly say that the forms are “official” or “approved,” the implication is that MSHA would accept these forms as complying with the new rule.
Yesterday we attended one of the last MSHA Stakeholders Meetings regarding the new Metal/Nonmetal workplace exam rule. In case you were unable to attend any of the meetings, the PowerPoint presented at the sessions can be found here. The Inspector training and Frequently Asked Questions document prepared by the agency are also available on…
MSHA has announced an additional in-person meeting and two video teleconferences to provide outreach and compliance assistance on the new workplace examination rule for metal and nonmetal mines. One of the video conferences occurs after the new examination rule takes effect on June 2nd.
As MSHA’s leadership has traveled the country in recent months, one area of concern they raised repeatedly was powered haulage accidents. Now, the agency is focusing more attention on this “priority issue” with its upcoming quarterly stakeholder call.
15 months after it first published a rule dramatically changing how workplace examinations will be done on every shift at every metal/non-metal mine, MSHA today published a final amended version of that rule. Despite a litigation challenge and widespread concerns raised by stakeholders, the final rule maintains many of the same provisions as originally introduced. The new rule takes effect June 2, 2018.
Assistant Secretary of Labor David Zatezalo has announced that a new workplace examination rule for metal and non-metal mines will be effective on June 2, 2018. The new rule has not yet been published.
