§825 Mandatory health and safety training

Summary

Operators must run a health and safety training program that the federal safety Secretary approves. New miners who will work underground and have no underground experience must get at least 40 hours of training. New surface miners with no surface experience must get at least 24 hours. Training must cover miners’ rights, self-rescue and breathing devices when needed, hazard spotting, emergency procedures, first aid, electrical dangers, walk-around training, and the safety parts of the job they will do. All miners must get at least 8 hours of refresher training at least once every 12 months. Miners already on the job when the 1977 Amendments took effect must get the refresher no more than 90 days after the approved training plan is in place. Miners moved to a new task must get task-specific training before doing that work, and required training must include hands-on time tied to the job. Training must happen during normal work hours and miners must be paid their normal rate (new miners paid their starting wage). If training is away from the work site, the operator must pay extra costs to attend. Operators must certify completion on a form the Secretary approves, keep a copy at the mine, give a copy to the miner, and give a leaving miner their copies. Certificates must say in bold that false certification is punishable under section 820(a) and (f). The Secretary must also make training rules for mine construction workers and must publish proposed rescue-team rules within 180 days after the effective date of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977. The Secretary had to finalize mine rescue team rules no later than 18 months after June 15, 2006, and must set and update every 5 years the criteria to certify rescue teams. Operators must pay the costs of arranging rescue teams. Every underground coal mine must have an employee on each shift who knows mine emergency response. Mines with more than 36 employees must make two certified mine rescue teams available whose members know the mine, enter two local rescue contests each year, train at the mine at least annually, and be able to reach the mine within one hour by ground travel. Mines with 36 or fewer employees must make two certified teams available that know the mine and its ventilation, enter two local contests each year, train at the mine at least semi‑annually, be able to reach the mine within one hour, and include members with at least 3 years of underground coal experience within the past 10 years. Operators may meet these team rules with on-site teams, multi-employer composite teams, commercial contract teams, or State-sponsored teams where allowed.