[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]


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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.

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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