UNDERGROUND MINING
$1M in Brookwood-Sago funds for mine safety teaching by U.S. Department of Labor : 13 miners to be schooled The Mine Safety & Health Administration
of the
U.S.
of
America announced a $1 million grant from the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety grant program to promote education and training to recognize, evade, and avoid harmful working situations in and around the country's mines. "Mining deaths are on the rise, notably motorized haulage fatalities, and this drift must be upturned. The safety and well being of those working in and around mines is the primary priority of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, "Jeannette J. Galanis, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health, stated. "Mine workers are a
valuable resource, and grants like these support the mining industry's training and education needs, as well as promote ways to better protect miners." The program remembers 25 miners who died in mine disasters at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama, in 2001 and the Sago Mine in
42 | SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW November 2021
Buckhannon, West Virginia, in 2006. It was established by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006. Brookwood-Sago awards allow grantees to create training materials, give mine safety training or educational programs, recruit mine operators and workers, and perform and assess training. They're an important aspect of MSHA's focus on programs and materials for miners in smaller mines, such as training miners and employers on new federal regulations and high-risk activities or hazards identified by MSHA.
