Mining/Oil/Gas

Arlington, VA — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has reopened the comment period on a Request for Information on ways to monitor and regulate miner exposure to diesel exhaust in underground mines.

New Orleans — A new approach that allows Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement inspectors to access electronic records onshore will increase their physical inspection time at more than 2,200 offshore oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, the agency recently announced.

Boston — Workers frequently exposed to diesel exhaust may face a higher risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the risk may increase with length of exposure, a preliminary study from Harvard University suggests.

New Orleans — The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has introduced a risk-based inspection program intended to improve safety for offshore oil and gas workers.

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.