Back to Mining Home In early 2006, tragedies at the Sago Mine, the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1, and Darby Mine No. 1 led to sweeping federal and state legislation. Key federal legislation included the MINER Act of 2006 (PDF, 170 KB), devoted to enhancing underground coal mine safety. As part of the MINER Act, Congress provided funding in the form of an Emergency Supplemental Appropriation to the NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR). The OMSHR was charged with developing existing and new technologies related to oxygen supply, refuge chambers, and communications and tracking. The OMSHR successfully delivered these technologies for mine use within the required time frame of 2-3 years. On April 5, 2010, twenty-nine miners lost their lives as a result of the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. In light of this tragedy, the on-going slate of NIOSH research projects related to the MINER Act remains especially important. Empowered by the MINER Act, the OMSHR established an on-going contracts and grants program in 2007. This program funds government agencies, private firms, and academic institutions for developing safety technologies that can be applied to mining. NIOSH has also developed research partnerships with industry, labor, and government organizations to solve significant mining safety and health problems. The MINER Act research program can be broken into on-going in-house research, contracts and grants, and NIOSH partnerships. For additional information about NIOSH's efforts related to the MINER Act, please refer to our Contacts. On-going Research Areas:
Contracts and Grants
NIOSH Partnerships
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