MSHA to award $1 million in safety grants

By |  May 30, 2023

Logo: MSHA

The U.S. Department of Labor is making up to $1 million in grant funding available through its Brookwood-Sago program.

Established by the Mine Improvement & New Emergency Response Act of 2006, the program honors 25 miners who perished in disasters in 2001 at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama, and in 2006 in Buckhannon, West Virginia, at the Sago mine. The program, according to the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA), supports the delivery of education and training to the nation’s mining community to help identify, avoid and prevent unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.

Administered by MSHA, the grants will fund programs focused on workplace safety and health hazards faced by miners. These hazards include exposure to respirable dust and crystalline silica; the safe use of powered haulage and mobile equipment; mine emergency and mine rescue preparedness; electrical safety; and insufficient training of new and inexperienced miners. The grants will also focus on lack of training for managers and supervisors performing mining tasks, pillar safety for underground mines, and the lack of personal protective equipment to prevent falls from heights and other unsafe conditions.

The Brookwood-Sago program aligns with the Biden administration’s efforts to improve the safety and working conditions for nation’s miners, MSHA says.

In awarding the grants, MSHA will give special emphasis to education and training programs that target miners at smaller mines and underserved populations in the industry. The administration will also prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

Learn more about the Brookwood-Sago opportunity and apply for a grant here.

Jack Kopanski

About the Author:

Jack Kopanski is the Managing Editor of Pit & Quarry and Editor-in-Chief of Portable Plants. Kopanski can be reached at 216-706-3756 or jkopanski@northcoastmedia.net.

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