Authorizing Legislation

Attachment A – Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977

The following is a section of the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977, Public Law
91-173, as amended by Public Law 95-164.
TITLE V--ADMINISTRATION
RESEARCH
SEC. 501. (a) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare,
as appropriate, shall conduct such studies, research, experiments, and demonstrations as may be
appropriate-(1) to improve working conditions and practices in coal or other mines, and to prevent
accidents and occupational diseases originating in the coal or other mining industry;
(2) to develop new or improved methods of recovering persons in coal or other mines
after an accident;
(3) to develop new or improved means and methods of communication from the surface
to the underground area of a coal or other mine;
(4) to develop new or improved means and methods of reducing concentrations of
respirable dust in the mine atmosphere of active workings of the coal or other mine;
(5) to develop epidemiological information to (A) identify and define positive factors
involved in occupational diseases of miners, (B) provide information on the incidence
and prevalence of pneumoconiosis and other respiratory ailments of miners, and (C)
improve mandatory health standards;
(6) to develop techniques for the prevention and control of occupational diseases of
miners, including tests for hypersusceptibility and early detection;
(7) to evaluate the effect on bodily impairment and occupational disability of miners
afflicted with an occupational disease;
(8) to prepare and publish from time to time, reports on all significant aspects of
occupational diseases of miners as well as on the medical aspects of injuries, other than
diseases, which are revealed by the research carried on pursuant to this subsection;
(9) to study the relationship between coal or other mine environments and occupational
diseases of miners;
(10) to develop new and improved underground equipment and other sources of power
for such equipment which will provide greater safety;
(11) to determine, upon the written request by any operator or authorized representative
of miners, specifying with reasonable particularity the grounds upon which such request
is made, whether any substance normally found in a coal or other mine has potentially
toxic effects in the concentrations normally found in the coal or other mine or whether
any physical agents or equipment found or used in a coal or other mine has potentially
hazardous effects, and shall submit such determinations to both the operators and miners
as soon as possible; and
(12) for such other purposes as they deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.