30 U.S.C. § 825 — Mandatory health and safety training

(a) Approved program; regulations. Each operator of a coal or other mine must have a health-and-safety training program approved by the Secretary. Within 180 days after the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 took effect, the Secretary had to issue regulations about these programs. Every program approved by the Secretary must provide at least the following: (1) A new miner with no underground mining experience who will work underground must receive at least 40 hours of training. The training must cover the statutory rights of miners and their representatives under this chapter; use of the self-rescue device and respiratory devices; recognizing hazards; escape routes; walk-around training; emergency procedures; basic ventilation; basic roof control; electrical hazards; first aid; and the health and safety aspects of the task to which the miner will be assigned. (2) A new miner with no surface mining experience who will work on the surface must receive at least 24 hours of training. The training must cover the statutory rights of miners and their representatives under this chapter; use of the self-rescue device and respiratory devices where appropriate; recognizing hazards; emergency procedures; electrical hazards; first aid; walk-around training; and the health and safety aspects of the task to which the miner will be assigned. (3) Every miner must receive at least 8 hours of refresher training at least once every 12 months. However, miners already employed when the 1977 amendments took effect had to receive this refresher training no more than 90 days after the date the Secretary approved the training plan required by this section. (4) A miner reassigned to a new task for which the miner has no previous work experience must receive, before performing that task, training under a training plan that the Secretary approved under this subsection. The training must cover the safety and health aspects specific to that task. (5) Any training required by paragraphs (1), (2), or (4) must include a period of training as closely related as practicable to the work in which the miner will be engaged. (b) Training compensation. Any health-and-safety training provided under subsection (a) must take place during normal working hours. Miners must be paid their normal rate of compensation while taking the training. New miners must be paid their starting wage rate while taking new-miner training. If the training takes place somewhere other than the miner's normal workplace, miners must also be paid for the additional costs they may incur in attending the training sessions. (c) Certificate. After each training program is completed, the operator must certify, on a form approved by the Secretary, that the miner received the specified training in each subject area of the approved health-and-safety training plan. The operator must keep a certificate for each miner. The certificates must be available for inspection at the mine site, and the operator must give a copy to each miner when the training is completed. When a miner leaves the operator's employment, the miner is entitled to a copy of the miner's health-and-safety training certificates. An operator's false certification that training was given is punishable under section 820(a) and (f) of this title. Each health-and-safety training certificate must state on its face, in bold and conspicuous letters, that false certification is punishable that way. (d) Standards. The Secretary must issue appropriate safety-and-health training standards for construction workers at coal or other mines. (e) Proposed regulations. (1) Within 180 days after the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 took effect, the Secretary had to publish proposed regulations requiring mine-rescue teams to be available for rescue and recovery work at each underground coal or other mine in an emergency. The operator of each mine must pay the costs of making advance arrangements for those teams. (2)(A) The Secretary must issue regulations about mine-rescue teams. Those regulations must be finalized and in effect no later than 18 months after June 15, 2006. (B) The regulations must provide the following: (i) The regulations must not be interpreted to waive training requirements that apply to existing mine-rescue teams. (ii) The Mine Safety and Health Administration must establish criteria for certifying the qualifications of mine-rescue teams and must update those criteria every 5 years after that. (iii)(I) For each underground coal mine with more than 36 employees, the operator must (aa) have an employee at the mine on each shift who is knowledgeable about mine emergency response; and (bb) make two certified mine-rescue teams available. Members of those teams must (AA) be familiar with the operations of the coal mine; (BB) participate in two local mine-rescue contests at least once each year; (CC) participate at least once each year in mine-rescue training at the underground coal mine covered by the team; and (DD) be available at the mine within one hour of ground travel from the mine-rescue station. (II)(aa) To comply with subclause (I), an operator must employ one team that is either an individual mine-site mine-rescue team or a composite team described in item (bb)(BB). (bb) The operator may use any of these options to meet item (aa): (AA) an individual mine-site mine-rescue team; (BB) a multi-employer composite team made up of members who know the operations and ventilation of the covered mines and who train twice a year at the covered underground coal mine, if the team (aaa) covers multiple operators and includes at least two active employees from each covered mine; (bbb) covers multiple mines owned by the same operator and includes at least two active employees from each mine; or (ccc) is a State-sponsored mine-rescue team with at least two active employees from each covered mine; (CC) a commercial mine-rescue team supplied under a contract through a third-party vendor, or a mine-rescue team supplied by another coal company, if the team (aaa) trains every quarter at covered underground coal mines; (bbb) knows the operations and ventilation of the covered mines; and (ccc) consists of people with at least 3 years of underground coal-mine experience earned during the 10-year period before their employment on the contract mine-rescue team; or (DD) a State-sponsored team made up of State employees. (iv) For each underground coal mine with 36 or fewer employees, the operator must (I) have an employee on each shift who is knowledgeable about mine emergency responses; and (II) make two certified mine-rescue teams available. Members of those teams must (aa) be familiar with the operations of the coal mine; (bb) participate in two local mine-rescue contests at least once each year; (cc) participate at least twice each year in mine-rescue training at the underground coal mine covered by the team; (dd) be available at the mine within one hour of ground travel from the mine-rescue station; (ee) know the operations and ventilation of the covered mines; and (ff) consist of people with at least 3 years of underground coal-mine experience earned during the 10-year period before their employment on the contract mine-rescue team.