30 USC 801 - Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

Collapse to view only § 801. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

§ 801. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose
§ 802. Definitions
§ 803. Mines subject to coverage
§ 804. Interim Compliance Panel

§ 801. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

Congress declares that—

(a) the first priority and concern of all in the coal or other mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource—the miner;

(b) deaths and serious injuries from unsafe and unhealthful conditions and practices in the coal or other mines cause grief and suffering to the miners and to their families;

(c) there is an urgent need to provide more effective means and measures for improving the working conditions and practices in the Nation’s coal or other mines in order to prevent death and serious physical harm, and in order to prevent occupational diseases originating in such mines;

(d) the existence of unsafe and unhealthful conditions and practices in the Nation’s coal or other mines is a serious impediment to the future growth of the coal or other mining industry and cannot be tolerated;

(e) the operators of such mines with the assistance of the miners have the primary responsibility to prevent the existence of such conditions and practices in such mines;

(f) the disruption of production and the loss of income to operators and miners as a result of coal or other mine accidents or occupationally caused diseases unduly impedes and burdens commerce; and

(g) it is the purpose of this chapter (1) to establish interim mandatory health and safety standards and to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to develop and promulgate improved mandatory health or safety standards to protect the health and safety of the Nation’s coal or other miners; (2) to require that each operator of a coal or other mine and every miner in such mine comply with such standards; (3) to cooperate with, and provide assistance to, the States in the development and enforcement of effective State coal or other mine health and safety programs; and (4) to improve and expand, in cooperation with the States and the coal or other mining industry, research and development and training programs aimed at preventing coal or other mine accidents and occupationally caused diseases in the industry.

(Pub. L. 91–173, § 2, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 742; Pub. L. 95–164, title I, § 102(a), Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1290; Pub. L. 96–88, title V, § 509(b), Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695.)

§ 802. Definitions

For the purpose of this chapter, the term—

(a) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Labor or his delegate;

(b) “commerce” means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States, or between a place in a State and any place outside thereof, or within the District of Columbia or a possession of the United States, or between points in the same State but through a point outside thereof;

(c) “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;

(d) “operator” means any owner, lessee, or other person who operates, controls, or supervises a coal or other mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at such mine;

(e) “agent” means any person charged with responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a coal or other mine or the supervision of the miners in a coal or other mine;

(f) “person” means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, firm, subsidiary of a corporation, or other organization;

(g) “miner” means any individual working in a coal or other mine;

(h)

(1) “coal or other mine” means (A) an area of land from which minerals are extracted in nonliquid form or, if in liquid form, are extracted with workers underground, (B) private ways and roads appurtenant to such area, and (C) lands, excavations, underground passageways, shafts, slopes, tunnels and workings, structures, facilities, equipment, machines, tools, or other property including impoundments, retention dams, and tailings ponds, on the surface or underground, used in, or to be used in, or resulting from, the work of extracting such minerals from their natural deposits in nonliquid form, or if in liquid form, with workers underground, or used in, or to be used in, the milling of such minerals, or the work of preparing coal or other minerals, and includes custom coal preparation facilities. In making a determination of what constitutes mineral milling for purposes of this chapter, the Secretary shall give due consideration to the convenience of administration resulting from the delegation to one Assistant Secretary of all authority with respect to the health and safety of miners employed at one physical establishment;

(2) For purposes of subchapters II, III, and IV, “coal mine” means an area of land and all structures, facilities, machinery, tools, equipment, shafts, slopes, tunnels, excavations, and other property, real or personal, placed upon, under, or above the surface of such land by any person, used in, or to be used in, or resulting from, the work of extracting in such area bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite from its natural deposits in the earth by any means or method, and the work of preparing the coal so extracted, and includes custom coal preparation facilities;

(i) “work of preparing the coal” means the breaking, crushing, sizing, cleaning, washing, drying, mixing, storing, and loading of bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite, and such other work of preparing such coal as is usually done by the operator of the coal mine;

(j) “imminent danger” means the existence of any condition or practice in a coal or other mine which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm before such condition or practice can be abated;

(k) “accident” includes a mine explosion, mine ignition, mine fire, or mine inundation, or injury to, or death of, any person;

(l) “mandatory health or safety standard” means the interim mandatory health or safety standards established by subchapters II and III of this chapter, and the standards promulgated pursuant to subchapter I of this chapter;

(m) “Panel” means the Interim Compliance Panel established by this chapter; and

(n) “Administration” means the Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Department of Labor.

(o) “Commission” means the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

(Pub. L. 91–173, § 3, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 743; Pub. L. 95–164, title I, § 102(b), Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1290.)

§ 803. Mines subject to coverage

Each coal or other mine, the products of which enter commerce, or the operations or products of which affect commerce, and each operator of such mine, and every miner in such mine shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

(Pub. L. 91–173, § 4, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 744; Pub. L. 95–164, title I, § 102(c), Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1291.)

§ 804. Interim Compliance Panel

(a) Establishment; composition

There is hereby established the Interim Compliance Panel, which shall be composed of five members as follows:

(1) Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards, Department of Labor, or his delegate;

(2) Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce, or his delegate;

(3) Administrator of Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services, or his delegate;

(4) Director of the United States Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, or his delegate; and

(5) Director of the National Science Foundation, or his delegate.

(b) Compensation; travel and subsistence expenses

Members of the Panel shall serve without compensation in addition to that received in their regular employment, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for travel, subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of duties vested in the Panel.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary shall, upon request of the Panel, provide the Panel such personnel and other assistance as the Panel determines necessary to enable it to carry out its functions under this chapter.

(d) Quorum; voting; selection of chairman

Three members of the Panel shall constitute a quorum for doing business. All decisions of the Panel shall be by majority vote. The chairman of the Panel shall be selected by the members from among the membership thereof.

(e) Appointment of administrative law judges; provisions applicable

The Panel is authorized to appoint as many administrative law judges as are necessary for proceedings required to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The provisions applicable to administrative law judges appointed under section 3105 of title 5 shall be applicable to administrative law judges appointed pursuant to this subsection.

(f) Functions; hearings; notice and review; termination; annual report

(1) It shall be the function of the Panel to carry out the duties imposed on it pursuant to this chapter and to provide an opportunity for a public hearing, after notice, at the request of an operator of the affected coal mine or the representative of the miners of such mine. Any operator or representative of miners aggrieved by a final decision of the Panel may file a petition for review of such decision under section 816 of this title. The provisions of this section shall terminate upon completion of the Panel’s functions as set forth under this chapter. Any hearing held pursuant to this subsection shall be of record and the Panel shall make findings of fact and shall issue a written decision incorporating its findings therein in accordance with section 554 of title 5.

(2) The Panel shall make an annual report, in writing, to the Secretary for transmittal by him to the Congress concerning the achievement of its purposes, and any other relevant information (including any recommendations) which it deems appropriate.

(Pub. L. 91–173, § 5, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 744; Pub. L. 95–164, title I, § 102(d), Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1291; Pub. L. 95–251, § 2(a)(9), Mar. 27, 1978, 92 Stat. 183; Pub. L. 96–88, title V, § 509(b), Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695; Pub. L. 100–418, title V, § 5115(c), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1433; Pub. L. 102–285, § 10(b), May 18, 1992, 106 Stat. 172.)