Published: February 19, 2016 |

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Tucked inside President Obama’s $4.15 trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2017 is tens of millions more in funding for mine safety and training, which has been cut in years past.

The proposed budget, which has little chance of being enacted by a Republican-controlled Congress, calls for an increase of more than $397.3 million and 2,270 full-time workers for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The increase would allow the Mine Safety and Health Administration to continue its efforts in protecting miners’ safety and fighting against black lung, Joseph A. Main, head of the Mine Health Safety Administration, wrote in a blog recently.

“The agency will continue efforts that have led to historical low numbers of deaths, injuries and illnesses, as well as record low respirable coal mine dust levels,” he wrote.

Main wrote MSHA’s initiatives include targeted enforcement at mines with the worst compliance records in order to correct conditions faster and implementing the final dust rule to reduce black lung disease.

Other highlights of MSHA’s budget include:

• $2.1 million to implement and enforce the final dust rule. The rule is the culmination of MSHA’s “End Black Lung − Act Now” campaign and is being implemented in three phases over two years.

• $8.4 million to improve training for MSHA staff and those in the mining industry.

• $350,000 to support enforcement activities in the U.S. territories, which include American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

• $600,000 for increased funding to support targeted rulemaking activities that have been central to MSHA’s mission to protect miners.

• $1 million and six full-time employees to continue to improve the timeliness of special assessments, and improve special investigations of claims for discrimination and other criminal and civil investigations and accountability reviews.

• $2 million for the replacement of the inspectors’ portable application laptop system, which is used by enforcement personnel to log violations and notes following a mine inspection.

“No one should have to sacrifice their life for their livelihood, and President Obama’s budget request reflects that common-sense imperative,” Main wrote.

Additionally, the president’s proposed budget calls for an increase of $42.2 million in funding and 100 new employees for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This, Main wrote, will protect workers through various programs.

Some of those program increases are in response to the January 2014 West Virginia water crisis when approximately 10,000 gallons of an industrial chemical, 4 Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), leaked into the Elk River.

• $1.5 million to restore 10 of the compliance assistance specialist positions that were cut in the previous funding bills. These specialists help provide essential outreach to both employer and vulnerable worker communities about new and revised standards, key enforcement initiatives, and issues affecting high-hazard industries such as the oil and gas industry.

• $2 million to enable On-site Consultation Projects, which provide assistance to small- and medium-size employers, to hire and train staff to support OSHA’s rapid response investigations. The funding will also provide staff with process safety management training in support of Executive Order 13650, “Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security,” and meet minimum staffing levels.

• $5.15 million to enable the agency to enhance safety and security at chemical facilities by implementing Executive Order 13650. OSHA would use $2,450,000 to modernize the Process Safety Management Standard and other chemical-related standards. The remaining $2.7 million would be used to hire compliance officers to perform PSM inspections of chemical facilities.

• $6.7 million to support the implementation of the rapid response investigation protocols to manage the workload resulting from the enhanced reporting requirements in the 2014 revisions to the Recordkeeping Standard which require employers to report work-related hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye.

“Everyone is entitled to a safe place to work so they can earn a living and provide for their family,” Main blogged.

Source: (February 15, 2016) The Register-Herald

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