MSHA also proposed a rule regarding underground coal mine rescue team equipment - requiring two additional hours of breathable air from their self-contained breathing apparatuses and gas detectors to measure gasses they could encounter during rescue operations.
The proposed rules would require rescue teams to reach underground coal mines within one hour. The current rule is two hours.
"Mine operators often rely on mine rescue teams to save miners during an underground emergency such as an explosion, fire, roof fall or water inundation," the agency said.
"In such a situation, the timely arrival of a properly trained mine rescue team can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
"This proposed rule would implement the provisions of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 [MINER Act] to improve overall mine rescue service; improve mine emergency response time; improve mine rescue team effectiveness; and increase the quantity and quality of mine rescue team training."
The proposed rules on mine rescue teams are as follows:
- Require coal mine operators to make available two certified mine rescue teams;
- Include criteria for certifying the qualifications of mine rescue teams;
- Require mine rescue team members to be available at the mine within one hour from the mine rescue station;
- Increase training for coal mine rescue team members from 40 to 64 hours annually;
- Require coal mine rescue team members to have practical experience as an underground coal miner or member of a mine rescue team;
- Require mine rescue team members to participate in training at each mine serviced by the team and have knowledge of the operations and ventilation at the mine;
- Require mine rescue team members to participate annually in two local mine rescue contests; and
- Include criteria for local mine rescue contests to improve rescue skills.
Public hearings on both proposed rules will be held October 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah; October 25 in Lexington, Kentucky; October 30 in Charleston, West Virginia; and November 1 in Birmingham, Alabama.
