#coal Archives - McCraren Compliance

Lawmakers reintroduce legislation on black lung benefits for miners

Posted on December 1, 2023December 7, 2023 by McCraren Compliance

coal-mining — Photo: small smiles/iStockphoto

Washington — Democratic lawmakers have renewed their push to ease access to health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease.

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) reintroduced the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 6461 and S. 3304) in November. Black lung is another name for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis – a deadly condition caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

The legislation would revise the Department of Labor’s Black Lung Program, which provides benefits to miners and eligible survivors or dependents, by:

Requiring full disclosure of medical information related to a claim, regardless of whether the information is considered evidence.
Allowing more miners to receive legal assistance.
Allowing miners or their survivors to reopen cases previously denied because of medical interpretations that have since been discredited.
Adjusting black lung benefits to reflect cost-of-living increases.

Black lung disease affects around 1 out of 6 coal workers, the American Lung Association says, and cases remain on the rise.

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), a co-sponsor of the House bill, claims in a press release that the “current system is deeply flawed and unjust, and the workers suffering from this terrible disease deserve better.”

She continues: “We are seeing significant gaps in protections for coal workers with black lung disease that are seeking benefits. Most workers do not have access to the legal and medical support they need to challenge coal companies and too often their claims are denied under false pretenses. Multiple congressional hearings have shed light on this harrowing reality.”

Casey adds in a separate release, “This bill will ensure that every coal miner that is suffering from black lung disease receives the benefits they are entitled to.”

Cartwright introduced a similar bill in December of last year.

McCraren Compliance offers a full range of safety and health training and consulting services. Plus we can help you incorporate well-being into your traditional systems in order to support the Total Worker Health of your workforce.

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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

Longwall Accidents – Safety Alert

Posted on May 17, 2023May 25, 2023 by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by MSHA

From January 2013 to March 2023, there have been 545 accidents on longwalls in underground coal mines, causing seven deaths and 333 serious injuries. These accidents occurred when miners were performing routine work such as shoveling coal, working on shields, moving equipment, installing bits on shear drums and installing supplemental ground support at the face and roof during recovery of longwall equipment.

Chart indicating number of longwall accidents over 10-years.

Photo property of MSHA

Best Practices

Follow the approved Roof Control Plan and train miners on the plan’s requirements.
Never travel or work under unsupported roof.
Examine the roof, face, and ribs, from a safe position.
Correct hazardous roof, face, or rib conditions before any work or travel is permitted in the affected area and during longwall recovery.
Be alert to changing roof/rib conditions especially during longwall recovery.
Install temporary roof support (posts, jacks, cribs) as required.

McCraren Compliance offers many opportunities in safety training to help circumvent accidents. Please take a moment to visit our calendar of classes to see what we can do to help your safety measures from training to consulting.

NIOSH black lung screening program takes to the road

Posted on April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by Safety+Health

Photo by NIOSH

Washington — In an effort to detect cases of black lung disease, NIOSH will offer free, confidential health screenings for current and former coal miners in Indiana and Texas.

Black lung is another name for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a deadly condition caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust. Multiple studies show that cases are on the rise.

As part of the agency’s Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, the NIOSH mobile testing unit is scheduled to conduct screenings April 17-20 in Carlisle, IN. After that, the unit will visit Longview, TX, on April 24-25, followed by a stop in Kosse, TX, on April 26-28. The series of screenings concludes with stops in the Texas towns of Jourdanton (May 1) and Christine (May 2-4).

Screenings last about 30 minutes and include:

Work history and respiratory questionnaires
Chest X-rays
Blood pressure screening
Lung function testing (spirometry)

“If black lung is caught early, steps can be taken to help prevent it from progressing to the most serious forms of the disease,” NIOSH Director John Howard said in a press release. “The NIOSH mobile unit provides underground, surface and contract miners with confidential screenings that can support next steps in reducing their exposure to coal dust.”

MSHA leader touts ‘significance’ of proposed silica rule’s appearance on regulatory agenda

Posted on February 7, 2023February 7, 2023 by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by Safety+Health

Christopher Williamson

Photo: US Department of Labor

Arlington, VA — The inclusion of a long-awaited Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed rule on respirable crystalline silica in the Department of Labor’s Fall 2022 regulatory agenda represents a milestone for which MSHA administrator Chris Williamson wants to “underscore the significance.”

Speaking during a Jan. 25 conference call for agency stakeholders, Williamson spoke of the long path the proposal has taken since first appearing in the Spring 1998 regulatory agenda. MSHA forecasted a proposed rule on silica would be in place in December 1998, Williamson noted.

The latest agenda, issued on Jan. 4 by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, lists April as a target date for publication of a proposed rule.

Although the interagency review process is “out of our hands,” Williamson said, he remains optimistic about the advancement of the proposal. “We look forward to, once we get the proposed rule out, receiving and reviewing the substantive, thoughtful comments that we know that we’ll get from this group and others.”

OSHA estimates that 2.3 million workers are exposed to silica dust annually.

During the call, MSHA Chief of Health Gregory Meikle listed the mining occupations most often overexposed to silica last year. For coal mines, these included machine operators, highwall drill operators and roof bolter operators. Stone cutters, crusher operators, and baggers were the most overexposed at metal and nonmetal mines.

Among MSHA’s numerous best practices for dust control:
At coal mines:

Water spray systems at the cutting drum or boom
Increased face ventilation
Enclosed cab filtration systems
Equipment maintenance and cab cleaning

At metal and nonmetal mines:

Wet cutting when possible
Local exhaust ventilation systems at the workstation and/or area
Implementation of properly designed wet spray systems

Recent research from the University of Illinois Chicago suggests the lung tissue of contemporary coal miners contains higher levels of respirable crystalline silica dust than counterparts of previous generations – which may explain a surge in cases of progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of black lung disease.

Mine workers and breathing problems

Posted on July 18, 2022 by McCraren Compliance

First published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

East Lansing, MI — A recent study of workers at sand, gravel and stone mines in Michigan found a higher number of doctor visits for shortness of breath compared with workers in other production industries.

Researchers at Michigan State University examined lung disease as well as exposure to silica, various allergens and other irritants among more than 1,200 surface mine workers from around the state. They asked the workers, who each had at least 15 years of experience, to complete a questionnaire and provided them with free chest X-rays and breathing tests.

Results showed “an increased prevalence of seeing a doctor for shortness of breath, possible work-related asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” according to an MSU press release. In the release, lead study author Hailey TenHarmsel, a research assistant in the MSU College of Human Medicine, said the nature of surface mining leaves workers vulnerable to various exposure risks.

Doug Needham is executive director of the Michigan Aggregates Association, which represents 85% of aggregate mining operators in Michigan. “We are making sure the health and safety of the work itself and companies doing air monitoring aren’t exposed to anything,” Needham said. “We put in air monitors on their chest throughout a normal eight-hour day, and at the end of the day, they turn them in and get tested to ensure they weren’t exposed to any limits that will cause them harm.”

The study was published online in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Bill would restore increased tax rate on coal to fund black lung disability benefits

Posted on February 11, 2022 by McCraren Compliance

First published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

Washington — Proposed legislation would create funding for health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease by extending, for 10 years, a recently expired excise tax rate increase on coal production.

Black lung is another name for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis – a deadly condition caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

The original increase excise tax rate, which supports the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, expired Dec. 31. H.R. 6462, introduced Jan. 20 by Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Alma Adams (D-NC), would restore it. Although mine operators are generally responsible for paying black lung benefits, the fund helps finance benefits for miners and eligible survivors or dependents when no responsible mine operator is identifiable or the operator is out of business.

Effective Jan. 1, the tax rate fell to 50 cents a ton on underground coal and 25 cents a ton on surface coal – a 55% reduction from the previous rates of $1.10 and 55 cents, respectively. The fund already stands about $5 billion in debt, according to a press release from the House Education and Labor Committee, of which Scott is chair.

The release also cites a May 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office that concluded failure to extend the previous tax rate will swell the fund’s debt to roughly $15 billion by 2050.

“Long-term funding for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund is a necessity,” Cecil Roberts, president of United Mine Workers of America International, said in the release. “Miners are suffering from [black lung] because they dedicated their lives to providing this nation with electricity and steel. The least Congress could do is ensure that the benefits they depend on to survive will always be there.”

In a November 2020 report, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General notes that more than three times as many coal miners were identified as having black lung disease from 2010 to 2014 compared with 1995 to 1999.

“With the number of black lung cases rapidly increasing, Congress must take action to secure health care and benefits for disabled miners,” Adams said in the release. “We can’t allow the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund to sink deeper into debt.”

In September, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced similar legislation (S. 2810). The bill hasn’t advanced past the Senate.

No changes to training requirements for refuge alternatives in coal mines, MSHA says

Posted on August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 by McCraren Compliance

Photo: JodiJacobson/iStockphoto

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has determined that the annual training requirements outlined in its Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines rule supply “an experience sufficient to enable miners to apply their knowledge, other training and available written instruction to effectively use the refuge alternative in an emergency.”

After multiple reopenings of the record and extensions of the comment period, MSHA announced in a notice published in the July 10 Federal Register that the rule – finalized in December 2008 and effective in March 2009 – “remains in effect without change.”

In 2009, United Mine Workers of America challenged the rule in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, citing NIOSH research in support of its push for quarterly training to better protect miners.

The court remanded the rule but didn’t vacate it, directing the agency to “explain the basis for the training frequency provision from the existing record or to reopen the record and allow additional public comment if needed.”

After reopening the record, MSHA received three public comments, including two in support of retaining the existing rule. The agency states in the notice that the rule’s approach is consistent with mandates in West Virginia, the lone state that specifies training for refuge alternative deployment requirements. It added, “MSHA concludes that annual motor-task (hands-on), decision-making and expectations training, supplemented by existing mandated quarterly review of deployment and use procedures, as well as existing mandated quarterly evacuation training and quarterly evacuation drills with review of a mine’s evacuation plan, which include discussion of emergency scenarios and options for escape and refuge, will prepare miners to deploy and use refuge alternatives appropriately and effectively in an emergency.”

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