Safety Standards for Self-Rescue Devices in Underground Coal and Underground Metal and Nonmetal Mines

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

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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