Mining Publication: Establishing and Using Safety Committees at Work

Research has documented that effective, engaging safety training helps educate employees on proper workplace procedures, practices and behaviors. Despite the effectiveness of some training, it must be acknowledged that many companies provide certain types of training in order to fulfill regulatory requirements.

For example, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires, as a part of its Part 46 training regulations, mining companies to provide 24 hours of training to newly hired employees in the surface metal/nonmetal subsector and eight hours to them annually thereafter. These trainings are required to cover certain topics related to job tasks and hazards, such as lockout/tag out.

Alternatively, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates training for employees only when certain conditions exist but does not require annual refresher safety training like MSHA. These differences in requirements introduce the question, “Do employees who work in an industry where they must participate in mandatory training on an initial and annual basis have fewer accidents, injuries, and fatalities than those who do not have this requirement?”