Bureau of Mine Safety January 2016 Newsletter 1

January 2016 Newsletter

Guest Column

This Month’s guest column

is contributed by James An-

derson. James is the Health,

Safety and Environmental

Manager based in Phoenix for

DBA Construction, Inc. James

has worked in the construction

industry for 46 years and has

worked through many regula-

tory changes in that time. Working in construction, James

crosses the lines between OSHA and MSHA regulations

quite often. This is the subject of his column.

Miners Versus Contractors:

Mind Set and Approach to Work

The mining industry often utilizes contractors of various

types on mines. Many mines now use contractors in day to

day operations, blurring the line between employees of min-

ing operators and contractors. However, if we look at our

smaller contractors, who only work occasionally at our

mines, we often see that their approach to safety and regula-

tions is different than that of typical mine employees. This

includes all stages of work including start up, the main body

of work and the completion and clean up.

Contractors may view regulations differently because

they often work more with OSHA. While MSHA and

OSHA rules are often similar, enforcement and the rules

themselves have many differences. MSHA regulations are

found in 30 CFR while OSHA Standards for Construction

are found in 29 CFR Parts 1910 and 1926.

Contractors who are familiar with the OSHA regulations

may not be aware of the need to understand 30 CFR when

working at mining operations and the need to understand

many different parts of 30 CFR including:

Part 46 – Training standards for the aggregate industry

Part 48 – Training standards for all other mining

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Mining Safety Board

The next Mining Safety Board meeting will be held

at 9 a.m. on Friday, January 15, 2016, at:

Belen City Hall

100 S. Main St., Belen

Lunch and a tour of New Mexico Travertine will fol-

low the meeting. The agenda for the meeting is availa-

ble on our website. For more information, call Mining

Safety Board Chair Randy Logsdon: 575-234-3622.

Special Seminars

Our office hosted 3 seminars in November around

New Mexico in conjunction with the MSHA National

Mine Health and Safety Academy. The seminars were

taught by Roger Montali, and we appreciate how well

they were attended. We also worked with the New

Mexico Mine Health and Safety Conference and

Dinsmore and Shohl to bring a legal seminar on

MSHA’s latest initiatives.

We would like to bring more educational opportu-

nities to our New Mexico miners. Please let us know

what type of seminar topics you would be interested in

attending and what locations in the state work best for

you. Please send suggestions to State Mine Inspector

Terence Foreback: tforeback@admin.nmt.edu

Bureau of Mine Safety January 2016 Newsletter 2

January 2016 Newsletter

STAY ALERT—DON’T GET HURT ST

AY AL

ERT—

DON’T

GET

HURT

Part 49 – Mine rescue standards

Part 50 – Accident and health reporting standards

Part 56/57 – Mandatory safety standards for MNM

mines

Part 62 – Occupational noise exposure

Part 70 and 71 – Health standards

While the various standards in 30 CFR are familiar

to those working exclusively in the mining industry,

contract employees who are new to them need coach-

ing to understand that they are no longer dealing with

the 29 CFR standards.

And of course, if a mine operator tells new contrac-

tors, ―it’s the law, the Federal Mine Safety & Health

Act of 1977, Public Law 91-173, as amended by Pub-

lic Law 95-164,‖ the contractors may scratch their

heads and wonder what they’re getting themselves in-

to.

If the operator can make the effort to coach the

contractor on the requirements of 30 CFR, the contrac-

tor will begin to realize the requirements of both

OSHA and MSHA are similar. This will make the con-

tractor more comfortable with MSHA regulations and

he’ll realize that OSHA and MSHA have the same

goals: no injury to anyone, anytime.

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 4)

Bureau of Mine Safety January 2016 Newsletter 3

January 2016 Newsletter

2016 New Mexico Mine Health and Safety Conference

Please mark your calendars for our 9th annual New Mexico Mine Health and Safety Conference

to be held in Socorro on May 2, 3 and 4, 2016. We are excited this year with our theme of

―Drive Safety Home‖ and have scheduled an informative seminar for our Monday ―Dig Into

Safety‖ session.

Robert Beatty and Jason Nutzman from Dinsmore

& Shohl LLP will be conducting a seminar on

―Accompanying Your MSHA Inspector‖. This sem-

inar is for all operators and operators’ personnel to

better prepare for an enhanced inspection experi-

ence. It is important to learn the dos and don’ts and Mr. Beatty and

Mr. Nutzman are experienced in the legal arena having dealt with

MSHA matters for most of their careers.

The planning committee is in need of an Exhibitor and Publications

Chair: call Randy Logsdon at 575-234-3622.

TAKE A MOMENT FOR A LIFE TIME: STOP, LOOK, ANALYZE FOR RISKS For those unaware, this is Oscar Colorado’s quote after his email signature line. I couldn’t help but think about

it when I read the article below from the Wall Street Journal.

An invasion of hammerhead sharks off the LA coast created quite a stir. The sighting of one under the Hunting-

ton Beach Pier south of Los Angeles last summer prompted closure of the beach for a day. At least two people

have been bitten—neither seriously.

Some were a little

too eager to get a close

look. On Sept. 5, Dylan

Marks and a buddy took

their kayaks into the

ocean off Malibu to try

to catch one with a fish-

ing rod.

―The idea was to get it

hooked, take a picture

with us and let it go,‖

says Mr. Marks, 29, a

psychologist from

Oxnard, Calif. ―But af-

ter I hooked one, he

started thrashing around

and got my foot. I

looked down and saw

my tendons cut open.‖

Mr. Marks was helicop-

tered to an emergency

room, where he got

more than 50 stitches.

Bureau of Mine Safety January 2016 Newsletter 4

January 2016 Newsletter

Your

Hea

lth &

Wel

lnes

s Mine operators have years of experience and famil-

iarity with MSHA’s regulatory requirements. If we

take the time to coach new contractors coming on our

mine sites and help them understand those require-

ments, they’ll understand that we all want the same

results at the end of the shift. Both mine operators and

contractors realize that their most important asset is

their employees. Taking care of those employees,

whether you are a contractor or operator, is the key to

business success.

I would like to close with a word of thanks to one

of my important mentors in the mining safety field,

H.L. Boling. Thank you H. L. for always uplifting and

encouraging me and all the others working to bring

our miners home safely at the end of every day!

-James Anderson

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