Mining Related Criteria Documents and Health Standard Program

Details

• Personal Author:
  Scheib BT
• Description:
  In the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, Congress declared that one of the purposes of the Act, amongst others, was to "establish interim mandatory health and safety standards and to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Secretary of Labor to develop and promulgate improved mandatory health or safety standards to protect the health and safety of the Nation's coal or other miners." The need for the development and enforcement of safety and health standards was predicated on the knowledge that mining is a high -risk industry, and that unsafe and unhealthful conditions in mines which lead to injuries, illnesses, and occupationally related deaths in the workforce, cause undue "grief and suffering to the miners and to their families" as well as, impede and burden the development and growth of the mining industry and commerce in general. There are, of course, those who believe that the implementation of regulations, including those concerned with miner health and safety, represents an unnecessary intervention on the part of the government and a burden to the development and growth of the mining industry. Such a position raises serious questions concerning the compatibility of productivity and safety and health. Actually, we can ill-afford to either jeopardize the safety and health of the mining workforce or impose severe constraints on the expansion of the mining industry in this country's quest for energy independence and to meet its ever increasing demand for metal and nonmetal commodities. What is needed is a genuine interest on the part of the mining industry to place the same emphasis on mine health and safety as it does on productivity, and for government to implement a regulatory program in line with the philosophy expounded by Mr. Robert Lagather, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, ". . . . we will not hesitate to adopt improved health and safety standards where hazards exist. However, we will also be sure that MSHA regulations are developed only in response to legitimate needs, that the regulations address those needs plainly, simply and in a way that minimizes the burdens imposed, and the reasonable and feasible alternatives for meeting the needs are fully considered." [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Fibrosis Hazardous Substances Mining Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Safety Management

  More +
• Keywords:
  Coal-miners Coal-mining Dust-analysis Dust-control Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Health-hazards Health-protection Mine-workers Miners Mining-equipment Mining-industry Monitoring-systems Personal-protective-equipment Pneumoconiosis Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Respiratory-system-disorders Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-practices Sampling-equipment Underground-miners Underground-mining

  More +
• Publisher:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DCDSD - Division of Criteria Documents and Standards Development
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  123-134
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030916
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the 10th Annual Institute on Coal Mining Health, Safety and Research, Blacksburg, Virginia, August 28-30, 1979. Shaw CT ed. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1979 Aug; :123-134
• Editor(s):
  Shaw CT
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1979
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the 10th Annual Institute on Coal Mining Health, Safety and Research, Blacksburg, Virginia, August 28-30, 1979
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a278313f5e4f098c2e44fec045bd525f424092097ed2d5899afa9f8eb2aa12992efddf4a9da7aa8dfec1a33bba649ecb940893ad0415ae496641800b035944c3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191355/cdc_191355_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.49 MB ]