One Hundred Years of Federal Mining Safety and Health Research

6.4.2 Improved Training Materials and Methods
Mine safety and health professionals have long recognized training as a critical part of an
effective safety and health program. Since 1977, federal regulations have required mine
operators to provide safety and health training to all new miners, as well as a minimum of 8
hours of refresher training each year. With help from universities, mining companies, MSHA,
and other providers of miner training, NIOSH researchers developed more than 80 training
modules and products on a wide variety of safety and health topics. Most of these are intended
to improve miners’ ability to (1) recognize common workplace hazards, or (2) handle nonroutine
events such as fires and other types of mine emergencies.
The main emphasis of the NIOSH Mining Program’s training research activity is not on
producing training materials per se, but on finding better training processes and methods. Most
of these training modules were developed during research studies to determine the feasibility and
effectiveness of using innovative new methods to present occupational safety and health
information to miners. These include computer simulations, interactive problem-solving stories,
degraded stereoscopic (3-D) images of hazardous conditions, and videotaped interviews with
miners.
According to MSHA records, NIOSH’s mine training materials have been used extensively by
the mining industry. During the past 20 years, trainers have obtained more than a half million
copies of training materials through MSHA’s National Mine Health and Safety Academy.
Numerous mining companies, mine trainers, and union officials have requested help from
NIOSH mine training researchers. Several companies have provided financial support through
Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. MSHA and state mining officials often
request NIOSH help and advice on various matters related to miners’ safety and health training.
6.5 Current NIOSH Mining Program
Today, NIOSH performs research to improve occupational safety and health for all workers,
including miners. NIOSH assumed the sole federal responsibility for research on mine safety
after the closure of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1996, when NIOSH inherited the former Bureau
mining research laboratories in Pittsburgh, PA, and Spokane, WA. In 2009, the NIOSH Office
of Mine Safety and Health Research had about 225 employees at these two locations, and a
budget of $40.6 million.
As of 2009, the NIOSH mining program had seven major strategic goals:
1. Reduce respiratory diseases in miners associated with coal worker pneumoconiosis,
silicosis, and diesel emissions;
2. Reduce noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL);
3. Reduce repetitive/cumulative musculoskeletal injuries;
4. Reduce traumatic injuries;
5. Reduce the risk of mine disasters (fires, explosions, and inundations) and enhance the
safety and effectiveness of, emergency responders;
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