Nine mining machine standards for safe operation

Nine mining machine standards for safe operation

Donald Faust Jr., president of Universal Concrete, was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

The nine standards address such issues as ventilation, methane, roof control, combustible materials, rock dust and equipment guarding. According to MSHA, these standards are the types of violations cited as contributing to the cause of the deadly Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that occurred in April 2010. A memorial to the 29 miners who died in that explosion was dedicated last week in West Virginia. The “serious” violations found in the recent inspection were “failing to provide standard railings around floor holes and open-sided floors, provide fire extinguishers and an emergency evacuation plan, have an adequate respiratory protection program, ensure that machines’ energy sources are locked/tagged out, provide powered industrial truck training, properly inspect cranes, ensure that a concrete mixer has proper machine guarding, replace missing knockout plugs and damaged panel boxes, and have a hazard communication program.

The dealers also told the officials that they would take up this issue with the manufacturers and inform the packing units about the weight discrepancies.
“A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known,” said OSHA.
Universal might have to pay $28,946 in penalties for the violations.

MSHA's final rule, Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards, which was published April 6, 2012, became effective today, Aug. 6, 2012. The rule requires mine operators to identify and correct hazardous conditions and violations of nine health and safety standards that pose the greatest risk to miners.
“Other-than-serious” violations found during the inspection were “hazards associated with walking and working surfaces and electrical installations” which do not result in fines, according to OSHA.
"These repeated violations expose miners to unnecessary safety and health risks that should be found and corrected by mine operators," says Joseph Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "The final rule, effective today, will increase the identification and correction of unsafe conditions in mines earlier, removing many of the conditions that could lead to danger, and improve protection for miners in underground coal mines."
Also new from the company - which has a network of 18 distributors in Brazil - is a mobile excavator simulator, which was designed for operator training, promoting the use of equipment and ensuring better security and performance.
The company also launched three new oil types - RandonLub HID (for hydraulics), Exclusive RandonLub TDR (for differentials and transmissions) and Exclusive RandonLub BAT (for diesel).