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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 172 / Thursday, September 9, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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the mine. MSHA believes that mines employing six or more miners often have more complex mining operations and more surface mobile equipment.
MSHA estimates that about 41 percent of all mines in the U.S. employ six or more miners and that about 88 percent of all miners in the U.S. work at mines employing six or more miners. MSHA
requests comments on whether the Agency should require all mine operators, regardless of size, to develop a written safety program. MSHA is particularly interested in comments on the economic feasibility of requiring operators with five or fewer miners to develop a written safety program.
MSHA is also interested in comments and suggestions on alternatives or best practices that all mines might use to develop safety programs whether written or not for surface mobile equipment. MSHA solicits comments on requiring a non-written safety program for mines with five or fewer miners.
Please provide the rationale and any supporting documentation in the comment. If a commenter marks parts of a comment as business confidential information, MSHA will not post those parts of the comment.
B. Sections 56.23001, 57.23001 and 77.2101Definitions Proposed 56.23001, 57.23001 and 77.2101 would define responsible person as a person with authority and responsibility to evaluate and update a written safety program for surface mobile equipment. MSHA believes that designating a person with authority and responsibility to evaluate and update the safety program as necessary would help assure the successful development and maintenance of a safety program that addresses and eliminates surface mobile equipment hazards at a particular mine. This individual should be able to communicate the operators commitment to safety and the importance of miners involvement in the program to prevent or mitigate hazards. The responsible person must communicate the goals of the safety program to all miners, including contractors. The responsible person would need to have the experience and knowledge about mining conditions, including surface mobile equipment, necessary to develop and manage the safety program, as well as experience and knowledge necessary to maintain and evaluate any controls and best practices.
Proposed 56.23001, 57.23001 and 77.2101 would define surface mobile equipment as wheeled, skid-mounted, track-mounted, or rail-mounted equipment capable of moving or being
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moved, and any powered equipment that transports people, equipment or materials, excluding belt conveyors, at surface mines and in surface areas of underground mines.
C. Sections 56.23002, 57.23002 and 77.2102Written Safety Program Under proposed 56.23002a, 57.23002a and 77.2102a, mine operators would develop and implement a written safety program for surface mobile equipment within 6
months after the effective date of the final rule. MSHA requests comments on whether the 6-month period provides mine operators sufficient time to develop and implement a written safety program that includes the elements in proposed 56.23003a,/57.23003a and 77.2103a, and rationales for the comments.
Proposed 56.23002b, 57.23002b and 77.2102b would also require mine operators to designate a responsible person as described above within 6
months after the effective date of the final rule. MSHA requests comments on whether this provides mine operators sufficient time to meet the proposed requirements, and rationales for the comments.
D. Sections 56.23003, 57.23003 and 77.2103Requirements for Written Safety Program Proposed 56.23003a, 57.23003a and 77.2103a would require a written safety program for surface mobile equipment to include four types of actions that mine operators would take in order to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities and to improve miners safety.
Proposed 56.23003a1, 57.23003a1 and 77.2103a1 would require the safety program to include actions that would identify and analyze hazards and reduce the resulting risks related to the movement and operation of surface mobile equipment.
Specifically, the proposal would require mine operators to identify, collect, and review information about hazards at their mines. These actions could include review of accident data and information on close calls or near misses, and any operational or maintenance accidents at their mines.
Based on the information collected, mine operators would be able to develop a program that more specifically addresses conditions at their mines and measures to eliminate, prevent, or mitigate hazards.
Proposed 56.23003a2, 57.23003a2 and 77.2103a2 would require operators to develop and maintain procedures and schedules for
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routine maintenance and non-routine repairs for surface mobile equipment.
Operators must comply with MSHAs existing requirements for maintenance and repair, which include but are not limited to 30 CFR 56.14100; 56.14105;
56.14211; 57.14100; 57.14105; 57.14211;
77.404a; 77.404c; 77.410c;
77.1606a and c; 77.1607l;
77.1607q; 77.405a and b; 77.502;
and 77.1302b. Under this proposal, the mine operator would need to integrate existing compliance processes with any manufacturers recommendations into the safety program and to assure that hazards in all phases of work be examined and analyzed. Existing processes include procedures for maintaining brakes and steering components, as well as procedures that assure pre-operational checks of equipment are conducted and then defects are corrected.
Proposed 56.23003a3, 57.23003a3 and 77.2103a3 would require that the program include actions the mine operator would take to evaluate currently available and newly emerging feasible technologies that can enhance safety and evaluate whether to adopt them. The safety program would include a process by which operators would periodically evaluate new and existing technologies that could enhance safety.
Examples of these technologies could include seat belt interlocks that affect equipment operation when a seat belt is not fastened; seatbelt notification systems that alert management when the seatbelts are not worn; collision warning systems and collision avoidance systems that may prevent accidents by alerting equipment operators to hazards located in blind areas; technologies that use Global Positioning Systems to provide equipment operators with information regarding their location when pushing and dumping material; as well as cameras, curvilinear mirrors, and other vision enhancements. As stated earlier, for mines with five or fewer employees that would not be subject to this proposed rule, MSHAs EFSMS would provide assistance to operators who are interested in developing a safety program. Also, as part of the Agencys compliance assistance efforts, MSHA would work with operators and provide information and technical assistance that would help them investigate control options and the use of technology to prevent accidents and injuries. Furthermore, MSHA would encourage its state grantees to focus on providing training to address hazards and risks involving surface mobile equipment in small mining operations.

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