MSHA Online Tool Aids Mine Operators
They can determine whether their mines are reducing significant and substantial (S&S) violations.
MSHA is offering a new online tool to help mine operators determine whether their operations are shrinking their significant and substantial (S&S) violations, which are violations of a mandatory health or safety standard that "significantly and substantially contributes to the cause and effect of a coal or other mine safety or health hazard."
The S&S Rate Calculator is an enhancement to the two-year-old Pattern of Violations Monitoring Tool, which allows operators to measure a mine's performance against MSHA's screening criteria for violations, for any specific date range. Users need the mine's 7-digit ID number to find data.
"It is the mine operator's responsibility to track its violation and injury histories to determine whether it needs to take action to comply with mine safety laws, protect miners and not trigger a POV notice," said Joe Main, MSHA assistant secretary. "Operators who implement a corrective action program can use this tool, which complements the POV monitoring tool, to track their progress and make sure a corrective action program is effectively addressing the mine's S&S rate."
The calculator is available at http://www.msha.gov/DRS/SNSRateCalculator.asp.