The Secretary of Labor, through MSHA, may award grants to state, tribal, and territorial governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to assist them in developing and enforcing state mining laws and regulations, improve state workers’ compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and improve safety and health conditions in the nation’s mines through Federal-State coordination and cooperation.
MSHA recognizes that state training programs are a key source of mine safety and health training and education for individuals who work or will work at mines. MSHA encourages state training programs to prioritize health and safety training for small mining operations and underserved mines and miners within the mining industry and to prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. MSHA is also interested in supporting programs that emphasize training on miners’ statutory rights, including the right to be provided a safe and healthy working environment, to refuse an unsafe task, and to have a voice in the safety and health conditions at the mine. The Agency encourages grantees to address, in their training and education programs, occupational health hazards cause by exposures to respirable dust and crystalline silica, powered haulage and mobile equipment safety, mine emergency preparedness, mine rescue, electrical safety, contract and customer truck drivers, improving training for new and inexperienced miners, managers and supervisors performing mining tasks, pillar safety for underground mines, and falls from heights.
Grant funds may be spent on conducting training and outreach, developing educational materials, recruiting activities (to increase the number of participants in the program), and on necessary expenses to support these activities to improve safety and health conditions in the nation’s mines. Grant funds also may be spent on equipment and other resources permitted under section 503 of the Mine Act to assist grantees with their training programs, in developing and enforcing state’s mining laws and regulations, and in improving state workers’ compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs. Under 2 C.F.R. § 200.439, capital expenditures for special purpose equipment are allowable as direct costs, provided that prior written approval is obtained from MSHA for items with a unit cost of $5,000 or more.
In addition to the training courses conducted for the mining industry, the funds may be used to provide other assistance to the mining industry. Other assistance may include, but is not limited to, conducting compliance assistance visits, assistance in preparing training plans, conducting inspections of mines, conducting informational workshops which target one or more particular groups of mining operations in the state's mining industry, or other activities that would improve the safety and health of miners.
Estimated Total Program Funding:
