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www.rockproducts.com ROCK products • August 2016 • 69 LAW GO ALL IN FOR MINING Let's unite to voice the positive impact mining delivers throughout the world. Join us in Las Vegas to say you're ALL IN for mining. Learn more at miningallin.com one of those reports. If everything you knew about mining fatalities came from these reports, you might very well con- clude that "management" is omnipotent, all powerful. Miners are present, but nothing they did or could have done would have prevented the accident. According to MSHA, if management had simply established "policies and procedures" to address whatever caused the accident, it would not have occurred. Management alone can prevent accidents, it seems. What does MSHA do when it investigates an accident and it is clear that the accident was caused by an unsafe act? What does MSHA do when it knows that a miner made a conscious decision to act in an unsafe way? It cites management. If a miner acts in an unsafe manner, expect MSHA to conclude that management failed to properly task train the miner, specifi- cally a failure to provide task training or effective task training. We all know that Part 46 and Part 48 both require operators to provide miners assigned to a new task with training "in the safety and health aspects of the task," but what's a "task"? Under Part 46, a "task" is "a work assignment or component of a job that requires specific job knowledge or experience." Part 48 defines "task" as a "work assignment that includes duties of a job that occur on a regular basis and which requires physical abilities and job knowledge." If the miner operator cannot produce records for or otherwise document the task training it provided, MSHA often assumes that no task training was provided. Work Experience MSHA is also quick to discount work experience, quick to assume that every task is a new task. After an accident, if the mine operator produces records showing that the miner in question had been task trained, MSHA may allege that the training provided wasn't effective. Indeed, MSHA has actually argued that the miner was not effectively trained solely because the miner did not per- form the task in question consistent with his or her training. MSHA might also concede that task training was provided, but MSHA will allege that it did not include training on a very specific "safety or health aspect" of the task. What do you do about this? Our advice is to document the experience that a miner has with various tasks. If a miner claims to have experience with a task, make sure that a com- petent person observes the miner safely performing the task and then document that observation. Also, identify and describe the specific tasks you know that you will assign miners to perform and make sure that MSHA sees that list. Then, document all the task training that you provide to miners. After you task train a miner, have a com- petent person observe the miner safely perform the task and make a record of that. After an accident, good, detailed documentation won't bar MSHA from questioning the effec- tiveness of the training you provide, but it will provide you with a much stronger defense.