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Washington — Enforcement of a Mine Safety and Health Administration final rule on miner exposure to respirable crystalline silica has been delayed to Oct. 17 after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay of the rule.
The rule went into effect in June 2024. It lowered the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air – half the previous limit – over an 8-hour time weighted average. The new PEL matches the one OSHA established in 2016.
Additionally, the rule increased silica sampling and enforcement at metal and nonmetal mines and requires mine operators to provide periodic health exams at no cost to miners.
Coal mine operators had been given a compliance date of April 14 for the rule, which first appeared on the Department of Labor’s regulatory agenda in 1998. However, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 4 granted a temporary stay of the final rule in response to a petition from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.
On April 8, MSHA announced a temporary enforcement pause until Aug. 18, citing “unforeseen NIOSH restructuring” and “other technical reasons.”
A status update on the rule’s implementation is set for Oct. 10, per the stay order.
A Department of Labor spokesperson told Safety+Health that MSHA “will continue to temporarily pause enforcement of the requirements in the silica rule for mine operators until the litigation is concluded.”
In an Aug. 15 press release, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts called the development “simply a death sentence for more miners.”
Multiple studies show that cases of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung – a deadly condition caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust – are on the rise.
“Right now, miners are being put in danger and being exposed to deadly levels of dust,” Rebecca Shelton, director of policy for the advocacy organization Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, said in a separate release. “It doesn’t take long for silica dust exposure to take a toll; a few months of high exposure can make a person sick.”
Roberts added: “The Department of Labor and MSHA should be fighting to implement this rule immediately, not kicking enforcement down the road yet again. Every day they delay, more miners get sick, and more miners die. That’s the truth.”
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication