Miners' Union Presses MSHA to Restore Silica Dust Rule Enforcement
United Mine Workers of America President Brian Sanson is calling on the Mine Safety and Health Administration to resume enforcement of its rule limiting respirable crystalline silica exposure, Safety+Health Magazine reports.
Market Impact
Sanson’s demand comes after NIOSH research found that nearly one in three coal miners in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia with at least 25 years on the job have coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung. That rate is 10 times higher than the rest of the country, according to the union.
“Every day federal regulators drag their feet and sit on this rule, another working father, mother, husband, wife, sister or brother contracts an incurable, fatal disease,” Sanson said in a press release cited by Safety+Health. “A company’s profit margin cannot take precedence over a miner’s right to draw a breath.”
The rule at the center of the dispute, finalized in April 2024, cuts the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an 8-hour time-weighted average, half the previous limit and matching OSHA’s 2016 standard. It also increases sampling and enforcement at metal and nonmetal mines and mandates periodic, no-cost health exams for miners. Enforcement has stalled amid a lawsuit from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which calls the rule “deeply arbitrary.” MSHA announced late last year it intends to reconsider the rule, and the Department of Labor’s July 3 regulatory agenda listed a July target date for a revised proposal covering exposure monitoring, medical surveillance and respiratory protection, though that proposal had not surfaced as of press time. Politico Pro reported Aug. 12 that the White House completed its interagency review of the revised MSHA proposal on Aug. 10.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Contractors performing rock drilling, blasting, concrete cutting or masonry work should prepare for the 50 micrograms per cubic meter standard to eventually take effect, even as legal and regulatory delays continue.
- Firms relying on respirators or dust masks as primary silica controls should reassess now: UMWA is explicitly challenging industry arguments that personal protective equipment can substitute for engineering and ventilation controls, a position regulators may adopt.
- Companies working at metal and nonmetal mine sites should expect more frequent unannounced dust sampling if enforcement resumes, per UMWA’s call for increased federal oversight.
- Watch for MSHA’s revised proposal, cleared by White House interagency review on Aug. 10 according to Politico Pro, which will address exposure monitoring, medical surveillance and respiratory protection requirements once published.
- Track the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case brought by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, since its outcome will determine whether the April 2024 final rule’s compliance timeline moves forward as written or gets rewritten.
