It is seeking public opinion in the following areas: the nature, extent and impact of the problem; prohibited substances and impaired miners; training; inquiries following accidents; drug-free workplace programs; and costs and benefits.
“MSHA is considering regulatory and nonregulatory approaches to address the risks and hazards to miner safety from the use or impairment from alcohol and other drugs and is soliciting information from the public to help determine how to proceed,” MSHA office of public affairs agent Suzy Bohnert told International Longwall News.
While Bohnert added that MSHA does not yet know if regulations will be implemented, it hopes that the information gathered at seven public gatherings throughout the US will help it decide if and what should be implemented.
The main reasoning behind the effort, according to MSHA, is to develop a routine protocol for accident investigations to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in an incident. Currently no such procedures are in place, so many such instances may go unreported and are not uncovered during the agency’s accident examinations.
However, said Bohnert, there was data there to justify the current effort. “Our preliminary review of our fatal and nonfatal mine accident records revealed a number of instances in which alcohol or other drugs or drug paraphernalia were found or reported, or in which the post-accident toxicology screen revealed the presence of alcohol or other drugs.”
She also noted that MSHA already had a protocol in place to determine miners’ exposure to drugs and alcohol, as well as regulations regarding their usage. “We currently address the presence and use of intoxicating beverages and narcotics at metal and non-metal mines,” she said.
“Sections 56.20001 and 57.20001 of 30 CFR state that intoxicating beverages and narcotics shall not be permitted or used in or around mines. Persons under the influence of alcohol or narcotics shall not be permitted on the job.”
Those already caught working under the influence have been appropriately reprimanded, but in good news for the coal industry, all those so disciplined were working in non-coal operations. Between the beginning of 2000 and the beginning of 2005, Bohnert said, “penalties were assessed for 75 violations of 56.20001 and for three violations of 57.20001. Our regulations contain no similar requirement for coal mines.”
The public sessions will be held in the following locations: October 24 in Salt Lake City (Little America Hotel), October 26 in St Louis (Hyatt Regency St. Louis), October 28 in Birmingham, Alabama (Sheraton Birmingham), October 31 in Lexington, Kentucky (Sheraton Suites Lexington), November 2 in Charleston, West Virginia (Marriot Town Center), November 4 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh Airport), and November 8 in Arlington, Virginia (MSHA Headquarters).
