Mining/Oil/Gas

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration is calling fiscal year 2016 “the safest year in mining history” after a record-low 24 deaths occurred – a decrease of nearly 37 percent over the previous fiscal year’s total of 38 fatalities.

Washington – The Mine Safety and Health Administration needs a more consistent approach to logging, assessing and responding to complaints of hazardous mine conditions, according to the results of a recent audit conducted by the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.

Washington – The Transportation Research Board, part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, has released a report recommending strategies to bolster and maintain safety culture in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration is urging miners to exercise extreme caution in and around vacuum trucks because of potentially life-threatening hazards, according to a safety alert released Sept. 27.

Washington – Workers in the offshore oil and gas industry could benefit from a final rule that revises and updates site safety and maintenance requirements for the first time since 1988.

Arlington, VA – An upward trend in serious injuries among coal miners has prompted the Mine Safety and Health Administration to issue a national call to safety.

San Francisco – OSHA has launched a pilot program in its Western region that allows whistleblowers protected by certain statutes to request that the agency stop an investigation and release findings to the Office of Administrative Law Judges.

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued a drill entanglement safety alert to call attention to safe practices and the importance of equipment maintenance.

Washington – Exposure to low levels of methane and other combustible gases can lead to “catastrophic” consequences for helicopters traveling to and from offshore oil and gas platforms, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement recently cautioned.

Bologna, Italy – Occupational safety and health professionals have underemphasized the significance of exposures to vapors, gases, dusts and fumes that may lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in workers, international scientific academy Collegium Ramazzini claims in a statement released July 19.