1.This Act may be cited as
the Mine Disaster Family Assistance
Act of 2007
.
2.Assistance by
the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to families of miners
involved in mining accidentsSection 7 of the MINER Act (30 U.S.C. 801
note) is amended to read as follows:
7.Mine disaster
family assistance
(a)Assistance by
the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to families of miners
involved in mining accidents
(1)As soon as practicable after being notified of a mining
accident within the United States involving a mine operator and resulting in
the initiation of a mine emergency response by the Mine Safety and Health
Administration, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health
shall—
(A)designate and
publicize the name and phone number of a director of family support services
who shall—
(i)be an employee of
the Mine Safety and Health Administration;
(ii)be responsible
for acting as a point of contact within the Federal Government for the families
of miners involved in the accident and a liaison between the mine operator and
the families; and
(iii)be part of any
such mine emergency response and, after consultation with the Assistant
Secretary, determine the appropriate level of response concerning family
support services as authorized under this Act; and
(B)designate an
independent nonprofit organization, with experience in disasters and posttrauma
communication with families, which shall have primary responsibility for
coordinating the emotional care and support of the families of miners involved
in the accident.
(2)Responsibilities
of the Mine Safety and Health AdministrationThe Mine Safety and
Health Administration shall have primary Federal responsibility for
facilitating the rescue and recovery of injured miners involved in an accident
described in paragraph (1). In the case of such an accident, the Administration
shall serve as the primary communicator with the operator, miners' families,
the press, and the public.
(3)Responsibilities
of Designated OrganizationThe organization designated for an
accident under paragraph (1)(B) shall have the following responsibilities with
respect to the families of miners involved in the accident:
(A)To provide mental
health and counseling services, in coordination with the disaster response team
of the mine operator involved.
(B)To take such
actions as may be necessary to provide an environment in which the families may
gather and grieve in private.
(C)To meet with the
families who have traveled to the location of the accident, to contact the
families unable to travel to such location, and to contact all affected
families periodically thereafter until such time as the organization, in
consultation with the director of family support services designated for the
accident under paragraph (1)(A), determines that further assistance is no
longer needed.
(D)To communicate
with the families as to the roles of the organization, government agencies, and
the mine operator involved with respect to the accident and the post-accident
activities.
(E)In cases where
miners are fatally injured, to arrange a suitable memorial service, in
consultation with the families.
(4)
(A)
(i)Requests by
director of family support servicesIn consultation with the lead
Mine Safety and Health Administration official designated for an accident and
the mine operator, the director of family support services designated for an
accident under paragraph (1)(A) shall receive, as soon as practicable, a list,
which is based on the best available information at the time of the request, of
the names of the miners that were involved in the mining accident.
(ii)Requests by
designated organizationThe organization designated for an
accident under paragraph (1)(B) may request from the mine operator involved in
the accident a list described in clause (i).
(B)The director of family support services and the
organization may not release to any person information on a list obtained under
subparagraph (A) but may provide information on the list about a miner to the
family of the miner to the extent that the director of family support services
or the organization considers appropriate.
(5)Continuing
Responsibilities of the Mine Safety and Health AdministrationIn
the course of its rescue effort and investigation of an accident described in
paragraph (1), the Mine Safety and Health Administration shall, to the maximum
extent practicable, ensure that the families of miners involved in the
accident—
(A)are briefed,
prior to any public briefing, about the accident, its causes, the rescue
effort, its progress, and any other findings from the investigation; and
(B)are individually
informed of and allowed to attend any public hearings and public meetings of
the Mine Safety and Health Administration about the accident.
(6)Use of mine
operator resourcesTo the extent practicable, the organization
designated for an accident under paragraph (1)(B) shall coordinate its
activities with the mine operator involved in the accident so that the
resources of the mine operator can be used to the greatest extent possible to
carry out the organization’s responsibilities under this subsection.
(7)
(A)Actions to
impede the Mine Safety and Health AdministrationNo person
(including a State or political subdivision) may impede the ability of the Mine
Safety and Health Administration (including the director of family support
services designated for an accident under paragraph (1)(A)), or an organization
designated for an accident under paragraph (1)(B), to carry out its
responsibilities under this subsection or the ability of the families of miners
involved in the accident to have contact with one another.
(B)Unsolicited
communicationsIn the event of an accident involving any mine
operator in the United States, no unsolicited communication concerning a
potential action for personal injury or wrongful death may be made by an
attorney, including any associate, agent, employee, or other representative of
an attorney, or any potential party to the litigation to an individual injured
in the accident, or to a relative of an individual involved in the accident,
before the 45th day following the date of the accident.
(C)Prohibition on
actions to prevent mental health and counseling servicesNo State
or political subdivision of a State may prevent the employees, agents, or
volunteers of an organization designated for an accident under paragraph (1)(B)
from providing mental health and counseling services under paragraph (3)(A) in
the 45 day period beginning on the date of the accident. The director of family
support services designated for the accident under paragraph (1)(A) may extend
such period for not to exceed an additional 30 days if the director determines
that the extension is necessary to meet the needs of the families and if the
State and local authorities are notified of the determination.
(8)Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as
limiting the actions that a mine operator may take or the obligations that an
operation may have, in providing assistance to miners involved in a mining
accident.
(b)Mine operator
plans To address needs of families of miners involved in mining
accidents
(1)Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of
the Mine Disaster Family Assistance Act of
2007, each operator of a mine that is subject to the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), shall submit to the
Secretary a plan for addressing the needs of the families of miners involved in
any mining accident involving a mine of the operator and resulting in the
initiation of a mine emergency response by the Mine Safety and Health
Administration.
(2)A plan to be submitted by a mine operator under paragraph
(1) shall include, at a minimum, the following:
(A)A plan for
establishing and publicizing a reliable, toll-free telephone number, and for
providing appropriately trained staff, to handle calls from the families of the
miners.
(B)A process for
notifying the families of the miners, before providing any public notice of the
names of the miners, either by utilizing the services of the organization
designated for the accident under subsection (a)(1)(B) or the services of other
suitably trained individuals.
(C)An assurance that
the notice described in subparagraph (B) will be provided to the family of a
miner as soon as the mine operator has verified that the miner was involved in
an accident (whether or not the names of all of the miners have been verified)
and, to the extent practicable, in person.
(D)An assurance that
the mine operator will provide to the director of family support services
designated for the accident under subsection (a)(1)(A), and to the organization
designated for the accident under subsection (a)(1)(B), immediately upon
request, a list (which is based on the best available information at the time
of the request) of the names of the miners, involved in the accident whether or
not such names have been verified), and will periodically update the
list.
(E)An assurance that
the family of each miner will be consulted about the disposition of all remains
and personal effects of the miner within the control of the mine
operator.
(F)An assurance that
if requested by the family of a miner, any possession of the miner within the
control of the mine operator (regardless of its condition) will be returned to
the family unless the possession is needed for the accident investigation or
any criminal investigation.
(G)An assurance that
the family of each miner will be consulted about construction by the mine
operator of any monument to the miners, including any inscription on the
monument.
(H)An assurance that
the mine operator will work with any organization designated under subsection
(a)(1)(B) on an ongoing basis to ensure that families of miners receive an
appropriate level of services and assistance following each accident.
(I)An assurance that
the mine operator will provide reasonable compensation to any organization
designated under subsection (a)(1)(B) for services provided by the
organization.
(J)An assurance that
the mine operator will assist the family of a miner in traveling to the
location of the accident and provide for the physical care of the family while
the family is staying at such location.
(K)An assurance that
the mine operator will commit sufficient resources to carry out the
plan.
(L)An assurance that
the mine operator will provide adequate training to the employees and agents of
the mine operator to meet the needs of survivors and family members following a
mining accident.
(M)An assurance
that, in the case of an accident in which the Mine Safety and Health
Administration conducts a public hearing, briefing, or comparable proceeding
the mine operator, in consultation with the Mine Safety and Health
Administration, will ensure that the proceeding is made available
simultaneously by electronic means at a location open to public in the city
where the accident occurred.
(3)After the date that is 6 months after the date of the
enactment of the Mine Disaster Family
Assistance Act of 2007, the Secretary may not approve any plan or
any modification of a plan that is required by law to be submitted to the Mine
Safety and Health Administration for any mine, including emergency response
plans, roof control plans, ventilation plans, training plans, respirable dust
control plans, shaft and slope sinking plans, and petitions for modifications,
unless the applicant has included as part of such a request a plan that meets
the requirements of paragraph (2) or has such a plan previously approved by the
Secretary on file with such Administration.
(4)A mine operator shall not be liable for damages in any
action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of the performance of
the operator in preparing or providing a miner list pursuant to a plan
submitted by the mine operator under paragraph (2), unless such liability was
caused by conduct of the operator which was grossly negligent or which
constituted intentional misconduct.
(5)Nothing in this section shall be construed as
limiting the actions that a mine operator may take or the obligations that an
operation may have, in providing assistance to miners involved in a mining
accident.
(c)Establishment
of task force
(1)The
Secretary, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, mine operators (including
operators of smaller mines), and families which have been involved in mining
accidents shall establish a task force consisting of representatives of such
entities and families, representatives of miners, and representatives of such
other entities as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(2)Guidelines and
RecommendationsThe task force established pursuant to paragraph
(1) shall develop—
(A)guidelines to
assist mine operators in responding to mining accidents;
(B)recommendations
on methods to ensure that attorneys and representatives of media organizations
do not intrude during the rescue and recovery efforts on the privacy of
families of miners involved in a mining accident;
(C)recommendations
on methods to ensure that the families of miners involved in a mining accident
who are not citizens of the United States receive appropriate
assistance;
(D)recommendations
on methods to ensure that State mental health licensing laws do not act to
prevent out-of-state mental health workers from working at the site of a mining
accident or other related sites;
(E)recommendations
on methods to improve the timeliness of the notification provided by mine
operators to the families of miners involved in a mining accident, including
the steps that operators would have to take to ensure that an accurate list of
miners potentially involved in an accident would be available within 1 hour of
the accident; and
(F)recommendations
on the appropriate role for families of miners in any official Mine Safety and
Health Administration investigation, including the appropriate level of access
to information used to develop the final report.
(3)Not
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
submit to Congress a report containing the model plan and recommendations
developed by the task force under paragraph (2).
(d)In this section:
(1)The
term miner means any individual working in a coal or other mine,
as defined in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et
seq.).
(2)The term mining accident means any mine
disaster, regardless of its cause or suspected cause that results in the
initiation of a mine emergency response by the Mine Safety and Health
Administration.
(3)The
term operator means any owner, lessee, or other person who
operates, controls, or supervises a coal or other mine or any independent
contractor performing services or construction at such time, as defined in the
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.).
(4)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of
Labor.
.