Willa Perlmutter Outlines MSHA Workplace Examination Rules

In an article for North American Mining, Willa Perlmutter looks at the requirements of MSHA’s long-standing metal/nonmetal workplace examination rules found at 30 C.F.R. § 56/57.18002. The rules were revised in 2019 to increase the stringency of the requirements for workplace exams for mining operations.

Mining lawyer Perlmutter contrasts the prerevision requirements — a mine operator arranges for a workplace exam once per shift, records that the examination has been done, and retains the record for one year — with those in effect after the 2019 revision — the exam record now must include the name of the person performing the examination, the locations examined, and a description of any condition found that might adversely affect health or safety, and it must be updated to show the date any adverse conditions were corrected.

Perlmutter notes that the additional detail required in the examination record can be “both a sword and a shield” as to its impact on enforcement by giving MSHA written evidence to support its case if, in addition to penalties against the mine operator, the agency decides to pursue individual penalties against the examiner. “But workplace exams can be a shield, too,” she said. “They are a legal requirement, sure, but they also give an operator the opportunity to get out ahead of the inspectors, at least once in every shift and in every working place.”

You can read the full article here.