§876 — Title 30 Mineral Lands and Mining | U.S. Code

Summary

Mines must have a phone or similar two-way communication between the surface and every main shaft landing and every working area if the mine is more than 100 feet from an entrance. Every underground coal mine operator must keep a program to improve accident preparedness and must write and keep updated a written accident response plan for each mine. The plan had to be adopted within 60 days after June 15, 2006, and must be shared with miners and their representatives. The Secretary must review and approve each plan, consider miners’ comments, and review plans at least every 6 months. Plans must cover evacuation and how to care for people who are trapped. They must use current, practical technology and meet or beat existing safety rules and recent science. Required items include a backup way to talk with the surface, a way for surface staff to know where underground workers were before or during an accident, breathable-air supplies for trapped miners, and caches of self-rescuers totaling at least 2 hours per miner (in addition to the 2 hours required by law before June 15, 2006) placed so an average miner can reach them within 30 minutes from the deepest work area. Plans must include maintenance and upgrade rules for self-rescuers, training on how to use them, flame-resistant directional lifelines or similar in escape routes (with replacement rules including a 3-year deadline for working sections after June 15, 2006), coordinated procedures with rescue teams and local responders, and training that does not reduce other required safety training. The Secretary can add more requirements and, no later than 3 years after June 15, 2006, approved plans must include wireless two-way post-accident communication and electronic tracking or explain why not and give an alternative. Any dispute over plan content is handled quickly by an Administrative Law Judge with 15 days to receive papers and 15 days to decide. No plan may reduce miners’ current mandatory protections.

Title 30, §876

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Telephone service or equivalent two-way communication facilities, approved by the Secretary or his authorized representative, shall be provided between the surface and each landing of main shafts and slopes and between the surface and each working section of any coal mine that is more than one hundred feet from a portal.

(b)(1)Each underground coal mine operator shall carry out on a continuing basis a program to improve accident preparedness and response at each mine.

(2)(A)Not later than 60 days after June 15, 2006, each underground coal mine operator shall develop and adopt a written accident response plan that complies with this subsection with respect to each mine of the operator, and periodically update such plans to reflect changes in operations in the mine, advances in technology, or other relevant considerations. Each such operator shall make the accident response plan available to the miners and the miners’ representatives.

(B)An accident response plan under subparagraph (A) shall—

(i)provide for the evacuation of all individuals endangered by an emergency; and

(ii)provide for the maintenance of individuals trapped underground in the event that miners are not able to evacuate the mine.

(C)The accident response plan under subparagraph (A) shall be subject to review and approval by the Secretary. In determining whether to approve a particular plan the Secretary shall take into consideration all comments submitted by miners or their representatives. Approved plans shall—

(i)afford miners a level of safety protection at least consistent with the existing standards, including standards mandated by law and regulation;

(ii)reflect the most recent credible scientific research;

(iii)be technologically feasible, make use of current commercially available technology, and account for the specific physical characteristics of the mine; and

(iv)reflect the improvements in mine safety gained from experience under this chapter and other worker safety and health laws.

(D)The accident response plan under subparagraph (A) shall be reviewed periodically, but at least every 6 months, by the Secretary. In such periodic reviews, the Secretary shall consider all comments submitted by miners or miners’ representatives and intervening advancements in science and technology that could be implemented to enhance miners’ ability to evacuate or otherwise survive in an emergency.

(E)To be approved under subparagraph (C), an accident response plan shall include the following:

(i)The plan shall provide for a redundant means of communication with the surface for persons underground, such as secondary telephone or equivalent two-way communication.

(ii)Consistent with commercially available technology and with the physical constraints, if any, of the mine, the plan shall provide for above ground personnel to determine the current, or immediately pre-accident, location of all underground personnel. Any system so utilized shall be functional, reliable, and calculated to remain serviceable in a post-accident setting.

(iii)The plan shall provide for—

(I)emergency supplies of breathable air for individuals trapped underground sufficient to maintain such individuals for a sustained period of time;

(II)in addition to the 2 hours of breathable air per miner required by law under the emergency temporary standard as of the day before June 15, 2006, caches of self-rescuers providing in the aggregate not less than 2 hours per miner to be kept in escapeways from the deepest work area to the surface at a distance of no further than an average miner could walk in 30 minutes;

(III)a maintenance schedule for checking the reliability of self rescuers, retiring older self-rescuers first, and introducing new self-rescuer technology, such as units with interchangeable air or oxygen cylinders not requiring doffing to replenish airflow and units with supplies of greater than 60 minutes, as they are approved by the Administration and become available on the market; and

(IV)training for each miner in proper procedures for donning self-rescuers, switching from one unit to another, and ensuring a proper fit.

(iv)The plan shall provide for the use of flame-resistant directional lifelines or equivalent systems in escapeways to enable evacuation. The flame-resistance requirement of this clause shall apply upon the replacement of existing lifelines, or, in the case of lifelines in working sections, upon the earlier of the replacement of such lifelines or 3 years after June 15, 2006.

(v)The plan shall provide a training program for emergency procedures described in the plan which will not diminish the requirements for mandatory health and safety training currently required under section 825 of this title.

(vi)The plan shall set out procedures for coordination and communication between the operator, mine rescue teams, and local emergency response personnel and make provisions for familiarizing local rescue personnel with surface functions that may be required in the course of mine rescue work.

(F)(i)In addition to the content requirements contained in subparagraph (E), and subject to the considerations contained in subparagraph (C), the Secretary may make additional plan requirements with respect to any of the content matters.

(ii)Not later than 3 years after June 15, 2006, a plan shall, to be approved, provide for post accident communication between underground and surface personnel via a wireless two-way medium, and provide for an electronic tracking system permitting surface personnel to determine the location of any persons trapped underground or set forth within the plan the reasons such provisions can not be adopted. Where such plan sets forth the reasons such provisions can not be adopted, the plan shall also set forth the operator’s alternative means of compliance. Such alternative shall approximate, as closely as possible, the degree of functional utility and safety protection provided by the wireless two-way medium and tracking system referred to in this subpart.11 So in original. Probably should be “subparagraph”.

(G)(i)Any dispute between the Secretary and an operator with respect to the content of the operator’s plan or any refusal by the Secretary to approve such a plan shall be resolved on an expedited basis.

(ii)In the event of a dispute or refusal described in clause (i), the Secretary shall issue a citation which shall be immediately referred to a Commission Administrative Law Judge. The Secretary and the operator shall submit all relevant material regarding the dispute to the Administrative Law Judge within 15 days of the date of the referral. The Administrative Law Judge shall render his or her decision with respect to the plan content dispute within 15 days of the receipt of the submission.

(iii)A party adversely affected by a decision under clause (ii) may pursue all further available appeal rights with respect to the citation involved, except that inclusion of the disputed provision in the plan will not be limited by such appeal unless such relief is requested by the operator and permitted by the Administrative Law Judge.

(H)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, nothing in this section, and no response and preparedness plan developed under this section, shall be approved if it reduces the protection afforded miners by an existing mandatory health or safety standard.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(C)(iv), (H), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 91–173, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 742, known as the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 801 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

2006—Pub. L. 109–236 inserted “and emergency response plans” after “locations” in section catchline, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and inserted heading, and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section operative 90 days after Dec. 30, 1969, except to the extent an earlier date is specifically provided for in Pub. L. 91–173, see section 509 of Pub. L. 91–173, set out as a note under section 801 of this title.

§876 Communication Facilities; Locations and Emergency Response Plans