MSHA to Award Funds for Miner Safety and Health Education
Up to $1,00,000 will be given out under the Brookwood-Sago grant program.
- By Alex Saurman
- Jun 24, 2022
Funds are now available for safety and health education and training for miners.
According to a press release, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will award up to $1,000,000 in funds to mines. The Brookwood-Sago grant program focuses on educating and training miners on “unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.”
The grants can be used for many facets of training, including building training materials, recruiting people and implementing the training, and, according to the press release, will address various topics, including:
- “Exposures to respirable dust and crystalline silica.
- Powered haulage and mobile equipment safety.
- Mine emergency preparedness and rescue.
- Electrical safety.
- Contract and customer truck drivers.
- Improving training for new and inexperienced miners, and managers and supervisors performing mining tasks.
- Pillar safety for underground mines.
- Falls from heights”
Applications close August 23, 2022, and grants will be awarded by September 30, 2022. Applications are available online. Mines that are smaller in size and underserved populations will be given special consideration.
The Brookwood-Sago grant program honors miners who lost their lives at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine and the Sago Mine. In 2001, according to the Chicago Tribune, 13 workers died from a mine explosion at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama. In 2006, 13 workers were trapped inside of the Sago Mine in Buckhannon, West Virginia, after an explosion. According to WCHS, only one of the miners survived.
About the Author
Alex Saurman is a former Content Editor for Occupational Health & Safety,who has since joined OH&S’s client services team. She continues to work closely with OH&S’s editorial team and contributes to the magazine.