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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 172 / Thursday, September 9, 2021 / Proposed Rules D. Written Safety Program for Surface Mobile Equipment This proposal would address hazards related to mobile equipment and powered haulage equipment except belt conveyors used at surface mines and in surface areas of underground mines.
MSHA believes that mine safety would be substantially improved when mine operators implement written safety programs that promote a culture of safety, take a holistic approach to safety and health, and encourage technological solutions to prevent or mitigate hazards.
The Agency also believes that miners safety would be improved if mine operators: 1 Continually evaluate their operations to identify hazards resulting from operating and working near surface mobile equipment and 2 identify controls that prevent or mitigate these hazards, including the use of technology to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities.
The proposed written safety program would be required only for operators employing six or more miners. Over the years, MSHA has observed that mine operators with five or fewer miners generally have a limited inventory of surface mobile equipment. These operations also tend to have less complex mining operations, with fewer mobile equipment hazards that would necessitate a written safety program.
Although these mine operators are not required to have a written safety program, MSHA encourages mine operators with five or fewer miners to assure that surface mobile equipment hazards at their mines would be mitigated to the greatest extent possible.
For mines employing five or fewer miners, MSHAs Educational Field and Small Mine Services EFSMS would provide assistance in the development and improvement of safety programs for mine operators and contractors in the mining community. Also, MSHAs EFSMS staff would encourage state grantees to focus on providing training to address hazards and risks involving surface mobile equipment in small mining operations.
The written safety program would list actions that mine operators would take to identify hazards and reduce risks, develop equipment maintenance and repair schedules, evaluate technologies, and train miners. The proposal would provide mine operators with the flexibility to tailor the written safety program to meet the specific needs of their operations and unique mining conditions. Under the proposal, mine operators would be required to evaluate and update the written safety program whenever necessary to manage safety
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risks associated with their surface mobile equipment appropriately.
A written safety program is an important part of a mine operators overall safety program to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, or deaths.
A written safety program, as opposed to an oral one, is one thats more likely to be followed by mine operators and miners. The specific contents of an operators written safety program do not need MSHA approval, but a written program serves other purposes beyond simply meeting regulatory requirements because it: 1 Reinforces that the mine operator/management is serious about safety; 2 provides benchmarks against which safety performance can be measured and verified; and 3 prevents confusion about authority, responsibility, and accountability.
Furthermore, a written safety program which is reviewed regularly can clarify policy, create consistency and continuity, provide a basis for making decisions relative to when changes are needed, and serve as a checkpoint whenever there is a question regarding the use of surface mobile equipment at surface mines and surface areas of underground mines.
As is MSHAs practice, the Agency would provide mine operators with guidance needed to develop, implement, evaluate, and update their safety programs, if requested. MSHA
would also work with mining industry stakeholders as it develops materials and templates to assist mine operators.
II. Section-by-Section Analysis This proposal would require mine operators to develop a written safety program in which they would systematically identify and evaluate risks of surface mobile equipment used at their mines to eliminate or mitigate safety hazards and reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities. The safety program should be designed so that it promotes and supports a safety culture at the mine. Since each mine has a unique environment, MSHA is proposing to allow each mine operator the flexibility to develop a safety program that addresses its specific types of surface mobile equipment and mining conditions and operations.
A. Sections 56.23000, 57.23000 and 77.2100Scope and Purpose Proposed 56.23000, 57.23000 and 77.2100 address the purpose and scope of the proposal. The purpose of the safety program is to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities related to the operation of surface mobile equipment.
Operators covered by this part would be required to develop, implement, and
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update a written safety program for mobile equipment used at surface mines and at surface areas of underground mines.
MSHA recognizes that mine operations are diverse, with varying mining methods, mining conditions and operations, types of mobile equipment, and mined commodities. Under this proposal, mine operators would have the flexibility to develop effective safety programs that best meet the unique conditions of their mines to prevent accidents, injuries, and fatalities involving surface mobile equipment.
Indeed, mine operators with existing effective safety programs would likely need to make few adjustments, if any, to their existing programs and practices to meet the requirements of this proposal.
Proposed 56.23000, 57.23000 and 77.2100 would require mine operators employing six or more miners to develop a written safety program. Based on Agency experience and data, a mine operator with five or fewer miners would generally have a limited inventory of surface mobile equipment.
These operators would also have less complex mining operations, with fewer mobile equipment hazards that would necessitate a written safety program.
Although these mine operators are not required to have a written safety program, MSHA would encourage operators with five or fewer miners to have safety programs. As stated earlier, for mines with five or fewer miners, MSHAs EFSMS would provide compliance assistance to operators in developing a safety program, such as making examples of model safety programs available at the Agencys website. Also, MSHA would encourage its state grantees to focus on providing training to address hazards and risks involving surface mobile equipment in small mining operations.
MSHA believes that these small mine operators would be able to accomplish the goals of this proposal through existing requirements for example, 30
CFR parts 56, 57, and 77 relating to the use of written hazard warnings, oral instruction, signs and posted warnings, walkaround training, or other appropriate means that alert persons to site-specific hazards at the mine.
However, to assure that surface mobile equipment hazards at these mines are mitigated to the greatest extent possible, MSHA intends to use its EFSMS
resources as stated earlier.
The proposal is premised on MSHAs experience and data that, as a mine operation grows, the number and size of surface mobile equipment used at the mine usually increase, as do the complexity of the hazards that occur at
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