MSHA Stresses Mines' Emergency Preparedness
The June 10 meeting in Virginia Beach, Va., of the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association will include the first of several regional focus groups to put more emphasis on this area.
MSHA wants to mines and their rescue teams to be in peak condition to respond to emergencies. To that end, the aegncy is beginning a series of regional focus groups on June 10 at the Virginia Beach, Va., meeting of the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association to place more emphasis on this area.
At the same time, there has been concern about the availability of self-contained self-rescuer oxygen units that underground miners must wear. A major source of SCSRs, CSE Corporation of Monroeville, Pa., on May 12 alerted users that it was still unsure why some units failed to automatically start when activated.
MSHA began a new initiative to boost mines' emergency preparedness with a May 11 meeting at the Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, W.Va., where representatives of the agency and stakeholders discussed rescue capabilities and shortcomings, issues surrounding stakeholders' preparedness and response, and upcoming MSHA efforts. An MSHA PowerPoint presentation from that meeting and additional resources are available at this page, where upcoming focus group meetings will be announced.