MSHA's final rule published January 23, 2017 contains three distinct timing requirements for metal and nonmetal mine examinations. The examination comes before miners begin work in the place concerned. Its record must be made before the end of that shift. When an adverse condition is corrected, the record must include or be supplemented with the correction date. [2017-00832][2016-13218]

The rule specified May 23, 2017 effectiveness, so those adopted changes were prospective as of this January 25 account. A competent person designated by the operator must examine each workplace at least once per shift. Finding an adverse condition triggers prompt notification to miners in affected areas and prompt initiation of appropriate corrective action; recordkeeping is not a substitute for either step. [2017-00832][2016-13218]

The proposal published June 8, 2016 asked for a signed and dated examination record. The final did not retain the signature requirement. It instead specifies the examiner's name, examination date, locations examined and descriptions of adverse conditions. That comparison is useful because importing the proposal's wording into a description of the final rule would add an obligation the adopted text omitted. [2017-00832][2016-13218]

The shift-end record deadline also does not mean every correction must be completed by then. Conditional supplementation addresses correction dates without relaxing prompt-action duties or the separate imminent-danger provisions. MSHA anticipated improved examinations but did not claim monetized benefits. These documents establish the procedure and its development, not measured reductions in injuries or proof of later implementation. [2017-00832][2016-13218]

Source documents

  1. Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mineshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-01-23/html/2017-00832.htm
  2. Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mineshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-06-08/html/2016-13218.htm