MSHA awards $10.5 million in safety grants

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) awarded $10.5 million in grant funding to reduce mining accidents, injuries and illnesses by supporting safety and health courses, as well as other programs.

According to MSHA, the grants were presented to 47 states, the Navajo Nation, Guam and the Native Village of Barrow.

The grants will be used to provide miners with federally mandated training. More specifically, they will cover training and retraining miners working at surface and underground coal and metal and nonmetal mines, as well as those working in shell dredging and at surface stone, sand and gravel mining operations.

The grants were awarded based on applications from states, and they are administered by state mine inspectors’ offices, state departments of labor, and state-supported colleges and universities.

The recipients include Bevill State Community College in Jasper, Alabama, which received $249,700; the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska, which received $125,630; the Arizona State Mine Inspector in Phoenix, which received $374,930; the Arkansas Department of Labor in Little Rock, Arkansas, which received $126,932; the California Department of Industrial Relations in Sacramento, California, which received $368,995; the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in Denver, which received $262,379; Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, which received $67,349; Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida, which received $160,297; Oconee Fall Line Technical College in Atlanta, which received $195,862; the Guam Department of Labor in Tamuning, Guam, which received $10,000; North Idaho College in Post Falls, Idaho, which received $128,935; the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in Springfield, Illinois, which received $270,403; Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, which received $257,137; the Eastern Iowa Community College District in Davenport, Iowa, which received $187,226; Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, which received $117,995; the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet in Frankfort, Kentucky, which received $594,488; Northshore Technical Community College in Greensburg, Louisiana, which received $107,120; the Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards in Augusta, Maine, which received $84,546; the Maryland Department of the Environment in La Plata, Maryland, which received $69,346; the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards in Boston, which received $88,884; Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, which received $249,257; Minnesota State Colleges and University in St. Paul, Minnesota, which received $375,153; the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in Jackson, Mississippi, which received $46,118; the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in Jefferson City, Missouri, which received $261,597; the Montana Department of Labor and Industry in Helena, Montana, which received $218,822; and Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation in Barrow, Native Village, which received $10,000.