Mining/Oil/Gas

Washington — Via its Gulf Research Program, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has awarded eight grants totaling nearly $7.3 million to projects aimed at enhancing safety culture in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Washington — Seated on a sofa and struggling to breathe – even with the assistance of oxygen – late Kentucky coal miner Peyton Mitchell, then 42, delivers a testimonial about his battle with black lung disease.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration is updating its metal and nonmetal mining regulations to incorporate advances in electronic detonators.

Blacksburg, VA — Researchers at Virginia Tech have launched a project aimed at boosting the effectiveness of dust scrubbers in underground mining to enhance dust control and improve miner safety.

State College, PA — Using a 3D device on a microchip that mimics the behavior of human lungs, researchers from Penn State University will use a $400,000 grant from NIOSH to study the effects of nano-scale coal dust on the lungs of underground miners, the university has announced.

Washington — Surface coal miners, especially those who work in drilling, may be exposed to higher concentrations of respirable dust or quartz. This puts them at elevated risk of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis – a deadly but preventable disease known as black lung, results of a recent NIOSH study show.

Washington — A total of 5,250 workers died as a result of on-the-job injuries in 2018 – a 2% increase from 2017 and the highest number of fatalities since 5,657 were recorded in 2007, according to Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data released Dec. 17 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Wigston, England — The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health has released a pocket card intended to help protect workers from diesel exhaust fumes.

Arlington, VA — The Mine Safety and Health Administration did not identify any Pattern of Violations offenders among the nation’s 13,000-plus mines for the fifth successive year, the agency announced Nov. 7.