10.5 Million Grant funding to support mine health and safety training

The US Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has announced the availability of more than $10.5 million in state grant money to provide miners and mine operators working at surface and underground coal, metal, and nonmetal mines with federally required training and retraining through 2022.

Through these funds, MSHA will Improve and amend state  mine safety and health training programs, with an emphasis on small mining operations and underserved mines and miners within the mining industry. These funds will also be used to develop or enhance state programs that provide training on miners’ statutory rights provided in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

In addition, MSHA will work with states to promote the best possible safety and health outcomes in the mining industry by providing educational and informational resources on a variety of topics, including emergency preparedness, electrical safety, ventilation, respiratory protection, and conveyor belt safety.

Any state can apply for the grant for funding and the grant may fund 80% of the program costs for training under the MSHA with the state health and safety board able to cover the additional 20% for a training program. 

This enhanced training will provide the nation’s miners with the skills and knowledge necessary to identify and prevent hazardous conditions in and around their worksites. As mining is already a notoriously dangerous industry, introducing this form of training could see a significant drop in injuries and fatalities going forward.

The closing date for applications on this program is set on July 25th of 2022 so it could be a great time for you to get in your application so that your business can receive the federal funding for training and improving your safety. 

If you need any more information on this grant, please reach out to the MSHA or follow the blog for more info on this program and others like it.

This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at Becker/SMC. For nearly a half a century, Becker Mining has been at the forefront of safety, producing the best arc guard in the industry. Becker/SMC is the industry’s leader in increasingly more sophisticated electrical control systems. Most of the major innovations, design features and specialized electrical components have been developed by Becker/SMC.

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