Under Section 103(g) of the Federal
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, as amended (Mine Act), a
representative of miners, or any individual miner where there is no
representative of miners, may submit a written or oral notification
of alleged violation or imminent danger of the Mine Act or a
mandatory standard or of an imminent danger. The notifier has the
right to obtain an immediate inspection by the Mine Safety and
Health Administrations (MSHA). A copy of the notice must be
provided to the operator, with individual miner names redacted.
MSHA regulations at 30 C.F.R. part 43 implement section 103(g) of
the Mine Act. These regulations provide the procedures for
submitting notification of the alleged violation and the actions
that MSHA must take after receiving the notice. Although the
regulations contain a review procedure (required by section
103(g)(2) of the Mine Act) whereby a miner or a representative of
miners may in writing request a review if no citation or order is
issued as a result of the original notice, the option is so rarely
used that it was not considered in the burden estimates.
The increase of 184 burden
hours (from 272 to 456) is due to an increase in the number of
responses and complaints received (from 1,358 to 2,278). MSHA ran a
campaign One Call Does It All that notified the mining industry
personnel of the hotline number to call if they wanted to report a
hazardous condition complaint or an emergency situation at a mine
site. In addition to running this campaign, the Sago, Aracoma, and
Darby mining disasters increased the publics awareness of the
hotline and of the publics ability to report a hazardous condition
complaint online via MSHAs website. Since these mining disasters
have occurred we have experienced a significant increase in hotline
number complaints, online complaints, email complaints, direct
phone in complaints to headquarters, and enforcement personnel in
the field have stated that they are receiving more hazardous
condition complaints from miners while they are onsite conducting
mine inspections. In summary, heightened awareness has resulted in
more complaints which have improved enforcement efforts and safety
conditions for miners. The burden costs remain at $0.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
2010-23084.pdf
1219-0014ss(20101215).doc
Hazardous Conditions Complaints