NSSGA: New MSHA workplace exam guidance a concern

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is planning to issue new guidance on compliance for workplace exams. A new program policy letter (PPL), obtained by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), would reportedly expand the tasks required in workplace exams and the training required for examiners.

NSSGA reports that under the PPL, a “competent person” conducting workplace examinations would have to “recognize hazards… that are predictable to someone familiar with the mining industry,” which is a new concept that NSSGA believes could lead to unjustified citations.

The PPL also includes a new concept that appears to mandate substantial increases in reporting. Workplace examiners would have to be task trained under Part 46 or 48 before conducting an examination, and if a “trained examiner fails to identify multiple safety hazards, this may indicate that task training … was inadequate.”