Last year, the mining industry experienced its second lowest annual fatality rate, and the injury and illness rates remained low. The industry doesn’t appear to have lost any ground on safety or health during the current global pandemic, but holding ground will be easier than improving upon it. To improve, many in the industry are looking to technological solutions. Last year, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) David Zatezalo told S&P Global, if “enforcement doesn’t get it done… It’s time for technology to come to the rescue.”
Unfortunately, enforcement may get in the way of technology as it races to the rescue. The assistant secretary and MSHA could easily change that.
I explain more in a recent article published by Coal Age.