Mine safety and health professionals have long recognized training as a critical part of an effective safety and health program. Since 1977, federal regulations have required mine operators to provide safety and health training to all new miners, as well as a minimum of 8 hours of refresher training each year. Several major changes have taken place in the way mine safety and health training is conceived and practiced since 1977. We believe that our research has stimulated these changes. These include:

1. More emphasis on learning that requires collaboration and active problem-solving.
2. More integration of miners’ practical knowledge and experience with mandatory safety and health information they receive annually.
3. More realism in training scenarios and greater fidelity of visual illustrations.
4. Greater use of training materials that are thoroughly authenticated and field tested.

Our nation’s miners sit through millions of hours of mandatory safety and health training each year. Mining companies spend millions of dollars to provide this training. It is often unclear whether these miners are learning anything that can actually help them reduce their risk of occupational injury and illness. Many miners sit through the same training lectures and films year after year in order to fulfill the legal requirements. In these situations, their "training" ends up being an unfortunate waste of time and resources. However, when it is done well, training is valuable and worthwhile to both the miners and their employer.

With help from universities, mining companies, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and other providers of miners' training, NIOSH researchers have developed more than 80 training modules and products on a wide variety of safety and health topics. Most of these are intended to improve miners' ability to (1) recognize common workplace hazards or (2) handle nonroutine events such as fires and other types of mine emergencies. The main emphasis of the NIOSH Mining Program’s training research activity is not on producing training materials per se, but on finding better training processes and methods. Most of our training modules were developed during research studies to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of using innovative new methods to present occupational safety and health information to miners. These include computer simulations, interactive problem-solving stories, degraded stereoscopic (3-D) images of hazardous conditions, and videotaped interviews with miners.

According to MSHA records, NIOSH's mine training materials have been used extensively by the mining industry. During the past 20 years, trainers have obtained more than a half million copies through MSHA’s National Mine Health and Safety Academy. Numerous mining companies, mine trainers, and union officials have requested help from NIOSH mine training researchers. Several companies have provided financial support through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. MSHA and state mining officials often request our help and advice on various matters related to miners’ safety and health training.