The Mine Act

By decree of the Mine Act, if an accident occurs at a mine resulting in the death of an individual, or an injury or entrapment of an individual occurs that may cause death, MSHA must be notified immediately. MSHA defines "immediately" as within 15 minutes. There is a minimum penalty of $5,000 and a maximum of $60,000 for failure to call MSHA within the allotted 15 minutes in the event of such an accident. The phone number to call is 1-800-746-1553, and it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

To avoid confusion, MSHA has carefully outlined 12 situations, known as the Dirty Dozen, in which it would be appropriate and mandatory to notify the agency.

To learn more about MSHA Part 48 training requirements visit our MSHA Part 48 Subpart B Surface Mining Online Training web page.