[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 7, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 36632-36633]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17092]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration
30 CFR Parts 57 and 75
RIN 1219-AB19
Safety Standards for Self-Rescue Devices in Underground Coal and
Underground Metal and Nonmetal Mines
AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is
considering revising its safety standards for self-rescue devices based
on MSHA's continuing evaluation of self-rescue devices and the public
comments received during the recent Self-Rescue Conference held in
Beckley, West Virginia. Self-rescue breathing devices, used in
underground mines for over 25 years, have saved lives. The devices are
subjected to harsh in-mine use conditions and are stored in a rugged
mining environment. The rule would help assure that the devices will
function as intended whenever they are needed in mine emergencies.
DATES: Submit comments on or before August 6, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to MSHA, Office of Standards, Regulations, and
Variances, MSHA, Room 631, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia
22203. You are encouraged to submit comments on a computer disk or via
e-mail to [email protected] along with an original hard copy or via
telefax to: 703-235-5551.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Jones, Acting Director, Office
of Standards, Regulations, and Variances, 703-235-1910.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Miners wear breathing apparatus known as self-rescue devices to
exit a mine during emergencies such as fires, explosions, or other
incidents which contaminate the environment. There are two types of
self-rescue devices used in underground mines. A filter self-rescue
device (FSR) removes hazardous carbon monoxide through filtration of
the mine air. A self-contained self-rescue device (SCSR) is a closed-
circuit breathing apparatus that isolates the users' lungs providing
breathable air. Because an SCSR functions in a closed circuit, all
contaminants in the surrounding mine air can be eliminated from the air
the miner is breathing.
MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) held a joint self-rescue conference in Beckley, West Virginia
on June 15 and 16, 1999. The conference provided an opportunity for an
exchange of information between the agencies, self-rescuer
manufacturers, mining industry representatives and labor
representatives on a range of topics involving self-rescue devices. The
participants addressed a number of significant self-rescue device
issues. The discussion also raised additional questions for the Agency
to consider. Following the conference, MSHA personnel met to consider
the issues raised and the views expressed at the conference.
With this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), we are
requesting the mining community to comment on issues developed at the
conference and other issues raised by MSHA. It is our hope that by
hearing the views of the mining community early in our rulemaking
process we can formulate a workable approach to addressing self-rescuer
issues that will best protect the safety of miners.
We have already announced in the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda
published in April, 1999 that we intend to develop a proposed rule to
address self-rescue devices. We will consider the comments we receive
as a result of this ANPRM in developing the proposed rule.
II. Issues We Ask You To Consider in Your Comments
1. There have been some instances where self-rescue devices were
not donned properly in an emergency. In addition, there are studies
which show that a person's ability to retain the knowledge and skills
necessary to properly don a self-rescuer decreases significantly over
time.
a. How can we enhance training to assure that miners will be able
to effectively don their self-rescuer?
b. Is annual training appropriate? Would quarterly or semiannual
training
[[Page 36633]]
be better? Should the training be held in conjunction with fire
fighting and evacuation drills?
c. Is the content of the current training appropriate? Should
training include: expectations when wearing self-rescuers; donning
procedures for all types of self-rescuers present in the mine; ways to
maximize the useful life of a self-rescuer during an emergency; and
effective techniques for transferring from one unit to another?
d. Should miners be trained using a breathing-resistance simulator,
for example, a mouthpiece?
2. Some of the concerns with self-rescue devices were discovered
only after the units were deployed in mines. The self-rescue devices
are subjected to harsh in-mine use conditions and stored in a rugged
environment that could contribute to a device not functioning as
intended.
a. How can we ensure that miners continue to have confidence in
self-rescue devices so that they will be used successfully in an
emergency?
b. How should we improve the reliability of self-rescue devices?
c. What should we do to reasonably ensure that all devices function
as intended?
d. Should the current service life requirements be modified?
e. If the allowable service life is reduced, would 5 years be an
appropriate service life? If not, what would be an acceptable service
life?
f. Should manufacturers periodically examine all of their self-
rescue devices deployed in mines, including both external and internal
components? How often? Should manufacturers certify that the
examinations and tests have been conducted?
g. Should manufacturers develop and perform nondestructive tests
that can be used in the field to detect degradation of self-rescuers?
h. Should mine operators be required to conduct more frequent
examinations? If so, how frequent?
i. NIOSH and MSHA, in the long-term field evaluation program, work
with mine operators to periodically obtain and test self-rescue devices
that are deployed in mines. How should the sampling and testing
methodology in this program be improved?
j. How should we involve interested parties in the early stages of
problem identification and the subsequent problem resolution?
3. International Standards
Self-rescuer manufacturers sell their products in international
markets. Yet, each country has its own approval criteria which limits
the potential for a free market.
a. Should NIOSH/MSHA have as a goal to integrate international
standards into the self-rescuer device approval process?
b. Are there other approaches to inspection of self-rescue devices
or to service life issues that other countries implement and that we
should consider for our nation's mines?
c. Should we allow the use of self-rescue devices that are approved
by other countries?
4. There have been questions about the interpretation of the
existing rule as it relates to storage plans and how the rule is being
applied in the various MSHA Districts.
a. Are there areas of the rule which should be clarified?
b. Should the rule explicitly require the cache of additional self-
rescuers in accordance with a plan that MSHA approves?
c. Should MSHA require operators applying for a storage plan to
submit any additional information, such as the travel distance and time
to the storage cache?
5. Over the years questions have come up concerning the distance
from the miner that self-rescuers are stored in coal mines and the
ability of the miners to reach the devices in a timely manner in the
event of an emergency.
a. What should be the appropriate time necessary to reach the
stored units?
b. Should we reduce the permitted travel time to caches?
c. Should we require the use of short-term duration SCSRs (anything
less than 60 minutes) in lieu of using a FSR to reach a cache?
d. Where escape will take longer than 1 hour, should the standard
for coal mines be revised to require caches of an adequate number of
self-rescue devices to allow all miners to escape to the surface or a
safe location?
e. MSHA and NIOSH, in conjunction with the MSHA state grants
program, conducted a series of studies at various underground mines
which determined the effect of heart rate as an indicator of workload
during a mine escape. Should MSHA take this data into account in
determining the location of these additional escape devices?
6. The devices currently required in metal and nonmetal mines are
FSRs. SCSRs can be successfully used in a wider variety of mine
emergencies than FSRs, and therefore are considered superior to FSRs.
In 1987, MSHA began to require SCSRs in certain category V-A gassy
metal and nonmetal mines (Sec. 57.22315).
a. Should SCSR requirements be expanded to other mines such as
gassy metal and nonmetal mines categories I through V (approximately 20
mines and 4,800 miners), the group of metal and nonmetal mines that
have the highest risk of fire and explosion from methane?
b. If expanded to these mines, should SCSR cache provisions be
excluded where there are refuge chambers in metal and nonmetal mines?
III. Impact
Executive Order 12866 requires that regulatory agencies assess both
the costs and benefits of intended regulations, and propose regulations
on the basis that the benefits justify the costs. Regulatory agencies
also are required to base decisions on the best reasonably obtainable
scientific, technical, economic, and other data and information
concerning the need for and the consequences of the proposed
regulations.
We are exploring the development of a proposed rule addressing
self-rescue devices. We anticipate that the benefit would be the
prevention of fatalities which may occur if these devices are not used
or not used as intended.
IV. Public Participation
We request comments on the specific issues addressed in this ANPRM.
You are encouraged to be as specific as possible in addressing the
issues and in suggesting alternatives. We also request that you include
specific examples and cost estimates where possible to support your
rationale. This will assist us in evaluating and analyzing your
comments.
List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 75
Mine safety and health, Underground mining.
Dated: June 29, 1999.
J. Davitt McAteer,
Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 99-17092 Filed 7-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-43-P