Mining/Oil/Gas

Arlington, VA — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has begun equipping its inspectors with the Mobile Inspection Application System in an effort to improve mine inspection processes and streamline technology.

Washington — Coal miners soon will have access to a series of free, confidential health screenings through the NIOSH Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program.

Washington — The Department of Labor is seeking to recover $67 million in unpaid health and safety fines issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration over the past decade, Secretary R. Alexander Acosta said during a hearing March 6 on the fiscal year 2019 budget.

Washington — The Chemical Safety Board and OSHA’s Susan Harwood Training Grant Program once again are slated for elimination in President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has no immediate plans to change its regulation on respirable dust in coal mines, MSHA administrator David Zatezalo said Feb. 6 during a hearing before the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

Washington — An updated contingency plan released by the Department of Labor during the short-lived federal government shutdown could serve as a guideline should another hiatus occur next month.

Washington — The Department of Labor has published a final rule raising civil penalty amounts for violations 1 percent to adjust for inflation.

Washington — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is among five Senate Democrats who have expressed opposition to any rollback to the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s respirable coal dust rule, in a letter sent Dec. 22 to Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta.

Washington — The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has issued a stop-work order for a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study reviewing BSEE’s offshore oil and gas operations inspection program, the National Academies announced Dec. 21.

Washington — The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has issued a proposed rule intended to “reduce certain unnecessary regulatory burdens” that exist under the Production Systems Safety Rule “while correcting errors and clarifying current requirements,” according to a notice published in the Dec. 29 Federal Register.