On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Nick Scala presented a webinar regarding Preparing for MSHA Serious Incident and Fatality Investigations.

While mine operators and mining contractors are likely used to MSHA conducting on-site safety and health inspections, when a serious incident occurs, the MSHA investigation takes a different approach. Seasoned mine operations are often caught off-guard by the depth of the investigation after a serious incident and are at times taken aback by the tone of the investigation – usually conducted by unfamiliar MSHA personnel from other areas in the district and management and non-management employee interviews will be central to the investigation. MSHA is also likely to issue a 103(K) Order, essentially shutting down the area or equipment subject to the incident, and the Order can stay in place for months, leaving the operator in a loss position.

This webinar reviewed MSHA’s approach to a serious incident or fatal incident investigations. Participants learned strategies to manage MSHA’s investigation for the company while conducting the operator’s investigation into the incident. The webinar also covered miner and mine management rights throughout MSHA’s investigation.

Participants in this webinar learned the following:

• The process of reporting an accident to MSHA
• The strategy employed by MSHA accident investigators
• Miner and Mine Management rights concerning interviews
• Overview and best practices for working through MSHA shutdown orders and enforcement

We are pleased to share these links to a copy of the slides and a recording of the webinar.

If you would like to be registered for the entire 2023 series, click here to send us an email request and we will get you registered.

This was the 3rd webinar event in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s 2023 MSHA Webinar Series.  Click here to view our full schedule and detailed program descriptions for all of the webinars scheduled for the 2023 MSHA Webinar Series.

If you missed any of our past webinars in our annual MSHA Webinar Series, view our MSHA Webinar Library to access of our webinar recordings. Also, click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel and get an email notification when new recordings become available.