DRAFT Supervisory Responsibility

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DRAFTSupervisory Responsibility

• Responsibilities under the Federal Mine Safety
  and Health Act of 1977

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Course Topics

• Definitions
• Sections of the mine act
• Significant and substantial
• Negligence
• Unwarrantable failure
• Company/agent violations
• Special investigations
• Penalties
• Good supervisory practices

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Congress Declared

• First priority of the mining industry is the
  health and safety of the miner.
• There is an urgent need to improve mining
  conditions.
• Mandatory standards be established requiring mine
  operators and miners to comply.
• Eliminate serious injury and death in the mining
  industry.

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WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

• The operators of mines with the assistance of
  miners have the primary responsibility to prevent
  the existence of unsafe and unhealthful
  conditions and practices in mines.

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Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977
Definitions

• Miner - any individual who works in a mine
• Operator - any owner, lessee or other person who
  operates, controls or supervises a mine, OR
• Any independent contractor performing services or
  construction at a mine. Contractors account for
  30-35 of all mining fatalities.

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INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

• Must comply fully with the Mine Act
• Will be cited for violations.
• Mine operator may also be cited for contractor
  violations
• Mine operator responsible for ensuring contractor
  is aware of MSHA regulations.
• Specify rigid requirements in contracts to
  control contractor behavior
• Monitor contractor activities

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What Is An Agent

• ANY person charged with responsibility for the
  operation of all or part of a mineor supervision
  of miners in a mine.

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• Are you a supervisor, a leadman, foreman,
  superintendent, etc.?
• If yes to any of the above, you are an AGENT.

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• Are you aware of your responsibilities under the
  Mine Act?
• Are you aware of the potential consequences of
  ignoring those responsibilities?
• LISTEN UP!!!

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AN ACTLevels of Enforcement

• Section 103
• a) Mandatory minimum of 4 2 inspections per
  year.
• d) Accident/Injury investigation reporting (30
  CFR Part 50).
• f) Right of the miner to have representation on
  an inspection (30 CFR Part 40).
• g) Right to request an immediate inspection (30
  CFR Part 43).

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Section 104

• (a) - Citations issued for violations
• (b) - Non-compliance orders
• (d)(1) - Unwarrantable failure citation

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Section 104 (Cont)

• (d)(1) - (d)(2) - Unwarrantable failure order(s)
• (e)(1) - (e)(2) - Pattern of violations

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Section 104 (Cont)

• (g)(1) - Untrained miner withdrawn from the mine.
• (g)(2) - No discharge, discrimination or loss of
  pay if withdrawn under (g)(1).

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Section 107(a)

• Imminent danger order
• Too hazardous to continue operations without
  the possibility of something occurring and,
• Requires immediate action

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Significant And Substantial (SS)

• What makes a violation SS?
• Gravity (section 10 of citation/order)
• If a condition is left unabated, what is the
  likelihood it would result in an injury, and
• If there was an injury, how serious would it be?
• For a citation to be SS, an injury must be
  reasonably likely to occur AND result in lost
  workdays or restricted duty.

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How Is Operator Negligence Determined?

• Negligence is failure to exercise the degree of
  care or diligence you would reasonably expect
  from a prudent personin a position of
  responsibility.

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Unwarrantable Failure

• Unwarrantability is a negligence determination.
• Factors caused by a high degree of negligence or
  reckless disregard should be evaluated for an
  unwarrantable failure to comply.

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Factors Addressed By Inspector

• Amount of time violative condition existed.
• The hazard is serious warranting increased
  attention by the operator.
• The violation is repetitious of a previous
  violation.
• The violation was the result of deliberate
  activity, or the operator had knowledge or reason
  to know.

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Section 105

• a) Propose penalty within a reasonable time
• c) No discrimination against miners for
  protected activity.
• d) Hearing for contesting citations, orders,
  and penalties.

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Purpose Of Section 110

• Congress recognized that strict civil and
  criminal penalties for violations were necessary
  to ensure that the health and safety standards
  would be met ...

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Purpose continued

• ...therefore, congress expressly imposed civil
  and criminal penalties on both the company and
  AGENTS of corporate mine operators.

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Section 110

• (a) - Assess civil penalties for violations from
  55 to 55,000
• (b) - Penalty of up to 5,500 per day for failure
  to comply

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Section 110 (Cont)

• (c) - Corporate agent assessed civil penalty for
  knowing violations
• (d) - Any operator agent who willfully violates
  and convicted (criminal) can be assessed up to
  250k or 1 year or both.

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Section 110 (Cont)

• knowingly has been defined as
• Knowing or having reason to know. A person has
  reason to know when he has such information as
  would lead a person exercising reasonable care to
  acquire knowledge of the fact in question or to
  infer its existence. MSHA must show a
  preponderance of evidence existed.

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SECTION 110(Cont)

• In reference to 110(d) of the act, willfully
  has been defined as
• Done knowingly and purposely by a person who,
  having a free will and choice, either
  intentionally disobeys the standard or recklessly
  disregards its requirements.

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Section 110 (Cont)

• 110(e) - 1,000 fine or 6 mo. in prison or both
  for any person notifying an operator of impending
  inspection
• 110(f) - Up to 250k or 5 years in prison or both
  for anyone convicted of knowingly making false
  statements, representation, or certification in
  any application, record, report, plan or other
  document filed or required to be maintained by
  the ACT.

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Section 110 (Cont)

• 110(g) - Miners can be fined 275 personally for
  violating smoking related standards.
• 110(h) - Up to 250k or 5 years in prison or both
  for anyone convicted of knowingly misrepresenting
  equipment, components or accessories as being in
  compliance.

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Violations Reviewed For Possible 110 Action

• 107(a) order with 104(a) citation high
  negligence
• 104(d) citations/orders with ss and high
  negligence
• Operator working against an order.
• District manager prerogative
• The district manager has authority to open an
  investigation into anything he deems necessary.

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Special Investigation

• If a determination is made to investigate a
  violation, a case number will be assigned and it
  will be assigned to a special investigator.
• The investigator will conduct thorough interviews
  with employees and members of management to
  determine if there has been a violation of
  sections 110(c), 110(d), 110(e) or 110(f).

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SECTION 115

• 30 CFR Parts 46 and 48 training requirements
• New Miner Training
• Experienced Miner Training
• Annual Refresher Training
• Task Training
• Site Specific Hazard Training

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Good Supervisory Practices

• Evaluate workplace conditions
• Firmly fairly enforce company, state and
  federal regulations.
• Recognize and take action to correct all unsafe
  conditions and practices.

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Good Supervisory Practices(cont)

• Conduct or assign a competent person to conduct
  workplace exams to correct hazards.
• Openly listen to concerns of employees with
  appropriate follow-up and feedback.

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Supervisory Practices (cont)

• Pre-operational checks are conducted of
  equipment.
• Ensure defects are corrected
• Ensure hazardous equipment is taken out of
  service and placed in designated area or tagged
  out.
• Record defect which cannot be corrected
  immediately.

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Supervisory Practices (cont)

• Regularly hold safety meetings (toolbox) with
  crew
• Encourage miner participation with feedback
• Regularly observe work practices of all miners
  and correct unsafe behavior with coaching and/or
  discipline.

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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

• Verbal/nonverbalGood listener

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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

• Modeling safe behavior
• Following through to ensure employees act as
  instructed

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The More Informed You Are...

• The more you understand the Mine Act, the safety
  and health regulations, and the intent and
  purpose of them, the better equipped you will be
  to train employees, prevent accidents, and to
  take care of hazards before an inspector observes
  them and issues citations. This will help you
  become better supervisors and managers.