MSHA opens Brookwood-Sago grant program for 2021

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) made available up to $1 million in grants to support education and training to help mine workers identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions.

The funding, made available by MSHA’s Brookwood-Sago grant program, will enable grant recipients to develop training materials, provide mine safety training or educational programs, recruit mine operators and miners for training, and conduct and evaluate training. The amount of each individual grant will be at least $50,000, MSHA says, and the maximum individual award will be up to $1 million.

Administered by MSHA, the 2021 selection process will include special consideration for programs that focus on powered haulage – in particular, reducing vehicle-on-vehicle collisions, increasing seat belt use and improving belt conveyor safety – as well as improving safety among contractors, reducing electrocutions, improving training for new and inexperienced miners, mine emergency prevention and preparedness, falls from equipment, respiratory hazards and other programs to prevent unsafe conditions in mines.

MSHA will also place special emphasis on programs and materials that target miners at smaller mines, including training miners and employers about new MSHA standards, high-risk activities or hazards MSHA identifies.

Producers can apply for the Brookwood-Sago grants at grant.gov. Applications must be received by May 27. MSHA will award grants on or before Sept. 30.

The Mine Improvement & New Emergency Response Act of 2006 established the Brookwood-Sago grant program in honor of the 25 miners who died in 2001 at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama, and in 2006 at the Sago Mine in Buckhannon, West Virginia.