Jim Sharpe's Sample letter your group can send to Congress

From the January 2010 issue of Rock Products Magazine http://rockproducts.com/safety/rock_congress_msha_0110/


"Dear Congress: MSHA Over-Regulating
Jan 1, 2010 12:00 PM, JAMES SHARPE

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Aggregates sector officials are calling for relief from the Mine Safety and Health Administration — which many believe has taken enforcement of safety rules too far. An appeal to Congress along the lines of the following letter might be considered.

Dear Congressional Representative:

No one should expect a reward for doing the right thing. But people should not expect punishment either. Unfortunately, in our mining sector today, punishment for doing a good job of safety is what we are getting from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Just after the turn of this century, we committed to reducing the injury incidence rate in our mining sector by 50% within five years. Admittedly, we fell short of that ambitious target, but the goal set us inexorably on a path toward zero and produced a declining injury rate in every year during the period. After five years, we set a revised goal of a 10% annual reduction, continuing the downward trend.

The numbers speak for themselves: our injury incidence rate has dropped to 2.62 injuries per 100 workers in 2008 from 4.14 in 2000. In 2009, fewer miners were hurt or killed in our sector than ever before, and a decade from now, there will be fewer fatalities still, if any at all.

We now have a better injury rate than most private sector industries; indeed, better than many agencies of government itself including, we suspect, the very agency that regulates us.

The twisted irony in all this is that while 2009 ended as the best year ever for mine safety, it most likely will be another year of record penalties.

While we expect no special recognition for keeping our employees safe on the job, we also do not expect our achievement to be answered by a numbers-driven agency intent on setting annual records for citations and penalties.

In 2007, the year a new penalty structure took affect that raised fines 108% in metal and nonmetal mines, MSHA wrote 33,824 citations and levied $11.3 million in fines in the aggregates sector alone. The numbers in 2008 were 41,667 citations and $17.9 million, increases of 23% and 58%, respectively.

MSHA raised fines, wrote new regulations and stepped up enforcement after underground coal tragedies occurred in 2006. Those horrible events did not occur in surface coal, metal mining or in the nonmetal mining sector. Yet we have borne a significant measure of the brunt of the agency's backlash. We are unfairly paying the price for events beyond our control.

If times were better, we might not be feeling the pain as acutely. But they aren't. Some mines have shut down altogether while others are on shortened hours because the depressed economy has brought less demand for our product. MSHA is kicking us when we are down.

All miners believe in the need for firm enforcement, but it should be fair too. It is not fair today.
We seek your assistance because we know you have the power to produce change. You can help us by listening to the grievances of your mining constituents, and then asking MSHA to justify its conduct toward them. You can also help bring this festering problem to national attention by lobbying MSHA's oversight committee for a congressional hearing. What you will learn about MSHA enforcement will surprise you.
MSHA's inspectors inflict a thousand little cuts on mine operators each and every workday. The wounds add up to injury massive enough to require an emergency response. We implore you to provide it.

Best Regards,
　

Aggregate Associaton


James Sharp holds a masters degree in environmental health sciences and is certified in the comprehensive practice of industrial hygiene. He has nearly 30 years experience in occupational and environmental health and safety. He can be reached atsharpemedia@verizon.net"