Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/594078
AGGREGATES MANAGER November 2015 26 T he Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has taken a two-pronged approach to reversing an upswing in fatalities in the metal/non-metal (N/NM) sector of mining and is reaching out to aggregate trade associations for help with the initiative. "I think those two efforts combined — the walk-and- talks, the education; and the enhanced enforcement — are really the things we need to be doing to try and get things on a better keel for the miners," says MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main during an interview that took place a month after the agency launched its latest fatality pre- vention initiative. The most recent effort began after three M/NM miners died in a single day, on Aug. 3, bringing to fi ve the number who had perished in one month. Three of those deaths occurred at aggregate operations. M/NM fatalities have been on the increase since October 2013. MSHA tried in May 2014 and again in February 2015 to stem fatalities using, essentially, the same two-fold game plan as it is implementing now, but there appear to be several key differences this time around. One is the full engagement of all M/NM stakeholders, especially in aggre- MSHA asks aggregate associations for their assistance with its fatality prevention initiative. by James Sharpe, CIH Reaches Out to Improve Safety MSHA Safety