[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 210 (Friday, October 30, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 58612-58613]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29089]



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Part VI





Department of Labor





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Mine Safety and Health Administration



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30 CFR Part 77



Safety Standards for Reporting Daily Inspections of Surface Coal Mines; 
Technical Amendment; Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 210 / Friday, October 30, 1998 / 
Rules and Regulations  

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Mine Safety and Health Administration

30 CFR Part 77

RIN 1219-AB15


Safety Standards for Reporting Daily Inspections of Surface Coal 
Mines; Technical Amendment

AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.

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SUMMARY: MSHA is making a nonsubstantive technical amendment to its 
safety standard which requires reports of daily inspection for surface 
coal mines. This technical amendment updates the standard to allow a 
mine official with authority and responsibility equivalent to the mine 
officials specified in the existing standard to sign or countersign the 
daily inspection reports. MSHA is amending the language of the standard 
to reflect changes in the management structure of the mining industry 
because traditional management structures, including job titles, have 
changed at many mines.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 29, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol J. Jones, Acting Director, 
Office of Standards, Regulations, and Variances, MSHA, phone 703-235-
1910.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Paragraph (d) of existing 30 CFR 77.1713 provides that all recorded 
examination reports of daily inspections for hazardous conditions at 
surface coal mines shall include the action taken to abate hazardous 
conditions and shall be signed or countersigned each day by at least 
one of the following persons: (1) the surface mine foreman; (2) the 
assistant superintendent of the mine; (3) the superintendent of the 
mine; or, (4) the person designated by the operator as responsible for 
health and safety at the mine.
    The requirement that the report ``be signed or countersigned'' 
helps assure that examination results are maintained and made 
available, and that the appropriate level of mine management is made 
aware of hazardous conditions or problems requiring attention. In 
addition, the signing and countersigning requirement helps assure the 
integrity of records and enables mine management to review the quality 
of the examinations.
    The persons specified in paragraph (d) are responsible for health 
and safety in the mine and have the authority and are in a position to 
suspend operations and allocate resources to correct health and safety 
problems as they develop. However, the terms ``mine foreman,'' 
``superintendent,'' and ``assistant superintendent'' may no longer 
describe the person with the authority and responsibility to correct 
problems within certain mine management structures in the coal mining 
industry. Not every operation employs persons with the titles 
enumerated in the standard.
    Given the changing terminology used to describe some mine 
management titles in certain mining operations, an ``equivalent 
person'' can satisfy the requirement of the standard. An ``equivalent 
person'' would be a person with the same responsibility for safety and 
health at the mine as a person specified in paragraphs (d)(1) through 
(d)(4), and with the authority to suspend production if necessary and 
allocate resources from various segments of the operation to correct 
safety or health hazards as they develop.
    MSHA has successfully used the term ``equivalent person'' in other 
rulemaking contexts in order to allow for alternative mine management 
titles. In MSHA's rulemaking for improved mandatory safety standards 
for ventilation in underground coal mines promulgated in 1996, MSHA 
received comments stating that some mines no longer use the terms 
``mine foreman,'' ``mine manager,'' or ``superintendent.'' In order to 
address those comments and to provide for alternative management 
titles, the final ventilation rule incorporated the phrase ``or 
equivalent mine official'' in several standards which require the 
reporting and countersigning of the results of certain inspections in 
underground mines. The standards using the phrase ``equivalent mine 
official'' are: paragraph (d) of Sec. 75.311 Main mine fan operation; 
paragraph (f) of Sec. 75.360 Preshift examination; paragraph (a) of 
Sec. 75.363 Hazardous conditions; posting, correcting and recording; 
and, paragraph (h) of Sec. 75.364 Weekly examination.
    The final rule published today provides that an official equivalent 
to an official listed in (d)(1) through (d)(4) of Sec. 77.1713 must 
sign or countersign the examination report. The purpose of this change 
is to allow for persons with the functional authority and 
responsibility equivalent to those persons specified in the standard to 
sign or countersign the reports. For purposes of this standard, a 
general manager, mine manager, or business unit manager having the 
requisite safety responsibility and authority may be equivalent to a 
superintendent. Similarly, a production manager, maintenance manager, 
or operations manager may be equivalent to an assistant superintendent; 
and a production supervisor, maintenance supervisor, or pit foreman may 
be equivalent to a mine foreman. This list is not meant to be an 
exhaustive one, but merely illustrates the range of titles which may be 
encountered in mine management organizations today. In each case, the 
equivalent officials must have the authority and responsibility for 
correcting hazardous conditions or problems. In some mines, officials 
having these titles may not be equivalent officials and would not have 
authority to countersign in all instances. Other titles, in addition to 
those described above, may describe mine management officials with the 
appropriate authority and responsibility to correct hazards or allocate 
resources to resolve health and safety problems.
    Allowing an ``equivalent person'' to sign or countersign the 
examination report does not reduce the protection afforded miners by 
the existing standard. In all cases, the mine official who signs or 
countersigns must have the equivalent authority and responsibility for 
correcting hazards and allocating resources as those persons listed in 
paragraphs (d)(1) through (d)(4) or the existing rule. This minor 
revision only recognizes changes in mine management structures and 
allows for persons equivalent in authority and responsibility to those 
already specified to sign or countersign the reports.

II. Procedural Matters

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B), MSHA finds good cause that the 
notice and public comment procedures of the Administrative Procedure 
Act are unnecessary for this technical amendment. The minor revisions 
contained in this rulemaking are nonsubstantive in nature and do not 
affect the safety outcome of the rule. With this rulemaking, the Agency 
is reflecting changes in terminology in the industry to allow for an 
official equivalent in authority and responsibility to a specified 
official to sign or countersign the reports. The authority and 
responsibility of the official remain the same as in the existing 
standard.

III. Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule does not contain substantive changes to information 
collection requirements that require approval by OMB under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The paperwork requirements for 
Sec. 77.1713 are approved under 1219-0083.

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IV. Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Executive Order 12866 requires that regulatory agencies assess both 
the costs and benefits of regulations. MSHA has determined that the 
cost for this rule is the same as under the existing rule. The primary 
benefit of the final rule is that it reflects changes in terminology in 
the industry and allows for an official equivalent in authority and 
responsibility to a specified official to sign or countersign the 
reports. MSHA has determined that this final rule does not meet the 
criteria of a significant regulatory action and, therefore, has not 
prepared a separate analysis of costs and benefits.
    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires regulatory agencies 
to consider a rule's impact on small entities. Under the RFA, MSHA must 
use the Small Business Administration (SBA) definition for a small mine 
of 500 or fewer employees or, after consultation with the SBA Office of 
Advocacy, establish an alternative definition for the mining industry 
by publishing that definition in the Federal Register for notice and 
comment. MSHA traditionally has considered small mines to be those with 
fewer than 20 employees. For the purposes of the RFA and this 
certification, MSHA has analyzed the impact of the final rule on all 
mines, on those with fewer than 20 employees, and on those with 500 or 
fewer employees, and has concluded that there is no additional cost to 
the mining industry.

Regulatory Flexibility Certification

    In accordance with Sec. 605 of the RFA, MSHA certifies that this 
final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. No small governmental jurisdictions or 
nonprofit organizations are affected.
    Under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 
(SBREFA) amendments to the RFA, MSHA must include in the final rule a 
factual basis for this certification. The Agency also must publish the 
regulatory flexibility certification in the Federal Register, along 
with its factual basis.

Factual Basis for Certification

    MSHA has determined that this rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The final 
rule merely adds language that conforms the standard to terminology 
currently used in the mining industry. The Agency recognizes that some 
mine operations no longer use the terms ``mine foreman'', ``mine 
manager'', or ``superintendent.'' To provide for alternative management 
titles, the final rule incorporates the phrase ``a mine official with 
authority and responsibility equivalent to a person listed in 
paragraphs (1) through (4) of this section.''

V. Unfunded Mandates Act

    For purposes of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, as well 
as E.O. 12875, this rule does not include any Federal mandate that may 
result in increased expenditures by State, local, and tribal 
governments, or increased expenditures by the private sector of more 
than $100 million.

VI. Executive Order 13045

    In accordance with Executive Order 13045, MSHA has evaluated the 
environmental health or safety effects of the rule on children. The 
Agency has determined that the final rule will have no effect on 
children.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 77

    Mine safety and health, Surface mining.

    Dated: October 23, 1998.
J. Davitt McAteer,
Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, Subpart R of part 77, 
subchapter N, title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as 
follows:

PART 77--MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS, SURFACE COAL MINES AND SURFACE 
WORK AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES

    1. The authority citation for Part 77 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 30 U.S.C. 811.

    2. Section 77.1713 is amended by revising paragraphs (d)(3) and 
(d)(4) and adding paragraph (d)(5) to read as follows:


Sec. 77.1713  Daily inspection of surface coal mine; certified person; 
reports of inspection.

* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (3) The superintendent of the mine;
    (4) The person designated by the operator as responsible for health 
and safety at the mine; or,
    (5) An equivalent mine official.

[FR Doc. 98-29089 Filed 10-29-98; 8:45 am]
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