Brookwood-Sago grants now available from MSHA

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is making available up to $400,000 in funding through its Brookwood-Sago grant program, which supports education and training to identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around the nation’s mines.

The grants focus on training and related materials on powered haulage, specifically to reduce vehicle-on-vehicle collisions while increasing seat belt use and improving belt conveyor safety, as well as improving safety among contractors and reducing electrocutions.

In addition, the grants will focus on improving training for new and inexperienced miners, mine emergency prevention and preparedness, and other programs to improve safety conditions.

Grant recipients will be able to provide mine safety training or educational programs, develop training materials, recruit miners and operators for training, and conduct and evaluate the training.

According to MSHA, the agency will give special emphasis to programs and materials that target miners at smaller miners, including educating miners and employers about high-risk activities, new standards and hazards identified by MSHA.

The closing dates for applications is Sept. 9.

Established by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006, the Brookwood-Sago grant program promotes mine safety and honors 25 miners who died in two disasters at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama, in 2001 and the Sago Mine in Buckhannon, West Virginia, in 2006.