DOL Awards Over $1 Million in Grants to Boost Mine Safety and Health
The grants will focus on the enhancement of training for mine safety, focusing on smaller operations and underserved mining communities.
- By Robert Yaniz Jr.
- Oct 07, 2024
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has allocated more than $1 million in grants to improve mine safety nationwide. The goal is to enhance education and training initiatives addressing key mining risks, especially in smaller, underserved communities.
According to a recent release, seven organizations in five states will receive funding through the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety grant program. MSHA focuses on improving miners’ protection from exposure to silica dust, enhancing rescue operations, and addressing safety in powered haulage.
The grants will support the development of training materials in multiple languages, promote safety education and assess the effectiveness. Established under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety program honors the 25 miners who died in the Brookwood, Alabama, and Sago, West Virginia mine disasters.
“As the Biden-Harris administration moves full steam ahead to ensure the implementation of MSHA’s new respirable silica dust standard, the grants awarded today are a valuable tool to make training and resources available to better protect miners from the debilitating and deadly effects of silica dust exposure,” MSHA Assistant Secretary Chris Williamson said in a statement. “All miners deserve a safe and healthy work environment and the ability to retire with their dignity and enjoy the fruits of their labor.”
This year’s recipients are the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona; Wayne Street University in Detroit; Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada; UMWA Career Centers Inc. in Prosperity, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania; West Virginia University, and West Virginia University Research Corp, both located in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Learn more about the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety program on the MSHA website.
About the Author
Robert Yaniz Jr. is the Content Editor of Occupational Health & Safety.