MSHA

Earlier today, the United States Senate voted to confirm David G. Zatezalo as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. The vote split along party lines, with all 52 Republican Senators voting to confirm the nominee and every Democratic Senator voting against him. Zatezelo should be sworn in later this week or…

As the new leaders at MSHA start to report to work, what changes should they consider? From my work helping mine operators navigate MSHA compliance and challenges, a number of broad trends have emerged in recent years. In the current issue of Coal Age, I consider 10 changes that could make a difference.

David Zatezalo, a former coal mining executive from West Virginia, will be President Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, the White House announced on Saturday in a long list of nominee announcements. In that role, he will head up the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). 

Out of the blue, MSHA cites an operator, claiming that the operator should have known that a condition or practice violated a standard.  MSHA itself—dozens of different inspectors and their supervisors—was unquestionably aware of the condition or practice for years or decades.  Now, the alleged violation must be abated.  Abatement will require significant changes, e.g. changes to the ventilation system, mine plan or to the type or equipment used at the mine.

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced today that he is appointing Wayne Palmer to serve as the acting head of MSHA. Palmer will serve as MSHA’s deputy assistant secretary on an ongoing basis and will be the acting head of the agency until a permanent assistant secretary is nominated and confirmed.

MSHA will propose as yet undefined changes to the Workplace Exam Rule amendments adopted on Jan 23, 2017, that require exams prior to work, new records, and communication of exam results. We also expect MSHA will soon issue a further extension of the new rule’s current Oct, 2017 effective date.  In the interim, the industry…

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that MSHA could demand a miners’ personnel records to assist an investigation into a worker’s discrimination complaint. In Hopkins Coal, an operator refused to provide personnel records to an MSHA investigator on the grounds the agency had not identified any protected activity the miner engaged in.…