Private-Public Partnership Program Brings Award Recognition
A unique private-public partnership in the mining industry has garnered accolades from Innovations in American Government (IAG), a prestigious awards program of the Ford Foundation and Harvard University.
The partnership is a venture between the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) of Arlington, VA, and consists of cooperative workplace-based sampling training program of noise and dust monitoring workshops. The project received semifinalist recognition in 2000, for the second consecutive year, ranking in the top seven percent of more than 1,300 projects considered. IAG is administered by the John F. Kennedy School of Government in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government.
Under the partnership agreement, NSSGA provides the site for the workshop, registers participants and is responsible for all administrative and logistical details. For its part, MSHA provides instructors from its Federal Mine Health and Safety Academy (Mine Academy) in Beckley, WV, and all instructional materials and sampling equipment. Besides being a unique partnership, the 3-day workshops feature one full day of sampling by the students of miners at an operating mine site. Students gain experience in real-world sampling, and the host mine site benefits from the noise and respirable dust data they collect.
The workshop program has been underway since 1997. Since then, 29 workshops have been held throughout the country, and approximately 300 safety and health professionals have successfully completed the program. The program is the brainchild of Kelly F. Bailey, CIH, Manager of Health for Vulcan Materials Co., the nation's largest producer of aggregates for roads and other construction.
R.J. Lee Group, Inc., Monroeville, PA, provides the dust sampling media free-of-charge. The host company compensates the laboratory for the silica sample analysis. MSHA uses Quest 200 dosimeters and SKC respirable dust sampling equipment in the workshops. Laboratory analysis for silica is provided by the R.J. Lee Group, Inc. of Monroeville, PA. R.J. Lee is accredited by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) for silica analysis.
Alumni speak highly of the workshops. "It was a super program, with a lot of material covered in a short period of time," recalled Shawn Gorg, plant manager of Better Materials Corporation's Penns Park Site. I recommended that we send other members of our company to future noise and dust sampling workshops."
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the program has been flattered by the creation of an annual noise and dust monitoring program, which is offered by the Construction Materials Association of California. The workshop is now one of many courses offered by the Mine Academy, and the event has sparked the interest of the American Portland Cement Alliance, which has enlisted MSHA to hold at least one workshop for its members.
Use of the sampling equipment at the workshop at times inspires participants' interest in purchasing that same equipment at their own companies. James Miller, Safety Coordinator for Rockydale Quarries' Staunton Lime and Belmont Quarries, attended a Feb. 2001 workshop hosted by Florida Rock Industries, Inc., in Fort Myers. "After being there, I came to the realization of what noise can do. Noise meters don't cost an arm and a leg, and can help me to get a better grasp of the situation," he explained. "I have Quest 200 noise dosimeters at Staunton."
Course participants receive a copy of the MSHA textbook, Industrial Hygiene: Sampling for Silica and Noise, a certificate suitable for framing, continuing education units (CEUs), and invaluable hands-on experience.
Safety and health professionals, industrial hygienists, and environmental consultants should attend the noise and dust monitoring workshop to learn how to:
¥ comply with the exposure monitoring requirements
of MSHA's Noise Rule;
¥ monitor for respirable dust;
¥ coordinate with an analytical laboratory;
¥ interpret the exposure data;
¥ promote thorough recordkeeping; and
¥ identify corrective measures.
The workshops cover the hazards of exposure to noise and silica, noise sampling, basic sampling principles, data interpretation, silica dust sampling, recordkeeping, and control methods. Each participant spends one day monitoring no more than two employees for noise and dust exposure at the host mine site. A competency test is given on the third day of the workshop.
The current schedule and registration forms are available by accessing the NSSGA website www.nssga.org/calendar calendar.htm or by contacting Chris Kolbash by phone (800) 342-1415 x 1069) or email (ckolbash@nssga.org). Enrollment is limited to the first 12 registrants.
