Mining/Oil/Gas

Charleston, WV – West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) has formed a commission to provide recommendations on improving workplace safety in the oil and natural gas industries.

Washington – OSHA has adopted a chemical concentration test similar to that of the Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether a chemical is at or above the threshold quantity listed under the Process Safety Management Standard.

Washington – The Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group on June 9 published an update on actions taken to comply with a 2013 Executive Order on improving chemical facility safety and security.

Charleston, WV – The West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety recently updated its standards for moving mining equipment in underground coal mines.

Washington – The fatality rate for oil and gas workers decreased 36.3 percent despite an industry boom from 2003 to 2013, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Washington – NIOSH will offer free, confidential health screenings to coal miners in an effort to detect black lung, a group of deadly diseases caused by breathing coal mine dust.

Houston – The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has launched a near-miss reporting system in an effort to improve the safety of offshore oil and gas operations.

Arlington, VA – Ten miners were killed during the first three months of 2015, according to preliminary data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Arlington, VA – Coal mine dust samples taken after the Mine Safety and Health Administration implemented a rule to prevent deadly diseases known as “black lung” suggest that compliance is “highly achievable,” the agency announced April 23 during a hearing of the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

Washington – Five years after the tragedy at Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has made strides to prevent similar incidents but still needs more tools, MSHA chief Joseph A. Main said during an April 23 hearing.