Pit & Quarry, October 2010

Safety I n case you missed it in 1977 the mining industry got a bad labor law The Organization of American Mines Facilitation Act disguised as the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 It didnt quite work out like organized labor had hoped The law was supposed to make it easy for the unions to organize the mines in the United States The unions failed to take advantage of the miners rights requirement in the law and in the subsequent training regulations Oddly enough the vast majority of United States miners did not race to the union organizers to protect their rights The Sago mine disaster that led to Abuse the Mining Industry With a Biased Bureaucracy Act of 2006 a k a Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act increased citations and fines but still didnt lead to successful expanded organizing efforts under the protective encouragement and custody of the Department of Labor The same enlightened Congress which did not experience a lightening strike passed this law long before the investigation report was completed The Congress is the very epitome of H L Menckens politics definition The art of looking for trouble finding it everywhere diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies Remember that the same Congress that passed this law which increased the penalties for alleged violations has asked why mine operators have been challenging the citations written by authorized representatives The Performance Coal disaster brings us to the draft of the Any Error a Crime Criminal Taxation Act Again the race is on to pass legislation before the investigation is finished The fines read taxes will be larger but the previously failed union organizing plans get a gigantic boost in the current proposal A paraphrase of the bills provision Miners would have to be told of their rights under the Mine Act during refresher training in a program of instruction developed by the secretary and delivered by an employee of the AGAIN THE RACE IS ON TO PASS LEGISLATION BEFORE THE INVESTIGATION IS FINISHED THE FINES READ TAXES WILL BE LARGER BUT THE PREVIOUSLY FAILED UNIONORGANIZING PLANS GET A GIGANTIC BOOST IN THE CURRENT PROPOSAL administration or by a trainer approved by the administration that is a party independent from the operator The administration would be the Mine Safety and Health Administration MSHA is in the Department of Labor So the secretary of labor via MSHA will write the miners rights training program The course is to be taught by an employee of the administration or by a trainer approved by the administration In the event that the hand of organized labor can be seen in the drafting of this bill then it is likely that the hand of labor will be present at the writing of the program and any subsequent regulations Who will teach the course The majority of metal non metal MSHA inspectors are members of the Take note It will be interesting to see how many industry trainers will be approved by MSHA and on what basis American Federation of Government Employees union MSHA has consistently demonstrated a pro labor bias Will these inspectors be some of the miners rights instructors Does employee of the administration mean that there will be another MSHA budget increase to hire a host of full time workers to do a part time job miners rights is a half hour or an hour subject in eight hours Wont the labor unions rush to prepare miners rights instructors read organizers to conduct your training session and take the half hour or hour to expand miners rights and add I will be most pleased to help you get them They will have to be approved by the administration but does anyone have any doubt who has the inside track on this one It will be interesting to see how many industry trainers will be approved by the administration and on what basis Dare we ask if the hoops for non administration employees will be the same size equidistant from the ground and without flames Recognize operators and owners your employees will not be eligible to do the miners rights training y While you were sleeping BY CARL METZGAR Carl R Metzgar CSP has more than 30 years of safety and health experience in the aggregates industry He provides consulting services with a specialization in program evaluation training compliance and loss control and can be reached at 336 766 8264 cmetz46840@ aol com 28 PIT QUARRY October 2010 www pitandquarry com