{"id":1172160,"date":"2020-03-17T17:51:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1017362"},"modified":"2020-03-17T17:51:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:51:12","slug":"major-msha-reorg-new-map-shows-three-enforcement-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1172160","title":{"rendered":"Major MSHA reorg: New map shows three enforcement regions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As part of its \u201cBlurring the Lines\u201d initiative, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is now implementing plans to dramatically change its internal organization for enforcement and has released a map showing the new hierarchy. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Before, individual coal and metal\/non-metal districts reported directly to a coal or metal\/non-metal administrator at headquarters in Arlington. Now, MSHA will divide the country into three regions, with each district (whether coal or metal\/non-metal) reporting to a single regional administrator.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Map-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1017355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Map-screenshot.jpg 562w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Map-screenshot-300x153.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px\" \/><figcaption>Source: MSHA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The<br \/>\ngeographic regions will be Western, Central, and Eastern. In keeping with the<br \/>\nBlurring initiative, each region will have a mix of both coal and M\/NM mines.<br \/>\nDistrict managers will report to the region\u2019s regional administrator. In the<br \/>\nnew scheme, districts will be re-named simply after the city where they are<br \/>\nlocated (e.g., Warrendale).<\/p>\n<p>While Tim Watkins will<br \/>\nremain the national Administrator for Enforcement, his two deputies will now<br \/>\nbecome two of the three regional administrators. Brian Goepfert, currently the<br \/>\ndeputy for M\/NM enforcement, will move to Denver to be the Western Regional<br \/>\nAdministrator. Dave Weaver, currently the deputy for coal, will move to Dallas<br \/>\nto be the Central Regional Administrator. MSHA currently has a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usajobs.gov\/GetJob\/ViewDetails\/560519200\">job posting online<\/a>&nbsp;to<br \/>\nhire a third person as the Eastern Regional Administrator. It may appoint<br \/>\nsomeone to fill the slot temporarily in the interim.<\/p>\n<p>While this changes the<br \/>\noversight above the district level, MSHA does not currently anticipate moving<br \/>\nmore mines from one district to another after the changes made in the last<br \/>\ncouple years. There are currently 213 \u201ccross-over\u201d mines that have been moved<br \/>\nacross the divide between coal and M\/NM (coal mines overseen by a<br \/>\nmetal\/non-metal district and vice versa).<\/p>\n<p>There is no particular<br \/>\ndate when the new regional structure will officially launch. Rather, it is<br \/>\nrolling out continuously and gradually as various parts \u2013 especially the map<br \/>\nand the new regional administrators \u2013 fall into place.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Will it make a<br \/>\ndifference to most mine operators?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While this is a big<br \/>\nchange for MSHA\u2019s hierarchy, it remains to be seen whether it will have impacts<br \/>\non the ground that are noticeable to the average mine in the normal course of<br \/>\nbusiness. In most enforcement matters, mine operators do not involve MSHA<br \/>\npersonnel above the district office level. Moreover, having regional<br \/>\nadministrators closer to the districts could mean they are able to keep a<br \/>\ncloser eye on what takes place in the field. That could be helpful, especially<br \/>\nin select areas where district management has struggled.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast to this<br \/>\nlatest regional change, other Blurring changes likely have had much more<br \/>\nday-to-day significance. The previous steps to move inspectors and districts<br \/>\nacross the divide between coal and metal\/non-metal raised concerns that MSHA<br \/>\nneeded to roll out significant training and orientation to be sure inspectors<br \/>\nand districts were familiar with the mines they are inspecting. Likewise, as<br \/>\nthe coal industry has declined in activity, operators have seen surplus coal inspectors<br \/>\nbeing shifted to the metal\/non-metal industry even though there has not been<br \/>\nany need for more inspection time at M\/NM mines. As a result, some operators<br \/>\nhave reported seeing more inspectors spending more inspection time at their<br \/>\nfacilities though safety and health performance remains consistent.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huschblackwell.com\/professionals\/avi-meyerstein\"><em>Avi Meyerstein<\/em><\/a><em> is a Washington, D.C.-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell<br \/>\nLLP. He leads the firm\u2019s Safety &amp; Health group.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the coal industry has declined in activity, operators have seen surplus coal inspectors being shifted to the metal\/non-metal industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,624,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1172161,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172160\/revisions\/1172161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}