The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has launched an initiative to focus on the hazards miners face when working in isolation. The initiative comes after five miners died in lone worker situations during the first three quarter of 2017.
MSHA inspectors and training specialists will now talk to miners and mine operators in "walk and talks" during regular inspection visits according to an agency news release.
The Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule to improve workplace examinations, specifically in metal and nonmetal mines in the U.S.
Citing a March 2015 accident where a vehicle crashed into a pond and killed the driver, the administration said that an examination could have prevented the accident.
According to the news release, 60 percent of deaths in metal and nonmetal mines since 2010 were linked to frequent mining violations, known as “Rules to Live By.”
