ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded a $66,623 health and safety training grant to the Nebraska Safety Center at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The Safety Center is the state agency for training miners and carries out the Mine Safety and Health Administration program.
The grant is being used to develop training curriculum, purchase training equipment and provide training at a reduced cost for Nebraska’s mine workers.
The grants cover training of miners working at surface and underground coal, metal and nonmetal mines, including miners engaged in sand and gravel operations.
UNK’s Nebraska Safety Center was among organizations in 47 stats that received a total of .4 million in health and safety training grants from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Each recipient tailors its program to the needs of its mines and miners – including mining conditions and hazards miners may encounter – and also provides technical assistance.
“These federal funds will enable miners to better prepare for the task at hand and arm them with the proper knowledge to avoid accidents and injuries,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
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This is good news as the funds will be used to provide federally mandated training to local miners! I just hope this also covers the training and retraining of miners working at both surface and underground mines.