November 1, 2024 - Federal Mine Safety Chief Chris Williamson, the head of MSHA, toured the West Virginia University Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies in Core Wednesday, National Mine Rescue Day.

 The program received more than $173,000 through MSHA’s Brookwood Sago Grant program to start mine safety training at WVU to support mine rescue and fire brigade training.

Mine safety training at WVU started in 1913 with the formation of The Mining Extension, which has grown into an internationally recognized program winning at least eight major championships.

“This program recently celebrated their 100-year anniversary—there’s very important training that goes on here,” Williamson, a West Virginia native, said. “People come from all over the country and even internationally to train at this facility.”

Mining Extension Director Josh Brady said the facility they use is a former Consol Energy mine that was active from 1945 to 1975. The site has a variety of training opportunities for students in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Mining Extension program and room for companies to train their teams as well.

“On the professional industry side, we work about 25 different teams in being able to have a skill set at the mine to be able to take care of their fellow workers,” Brady said.

Justin Waybright is a junior in the program from a mining family and joined as a freshman. As an athlete in high school, Waybright said the fast-paced competitive environment is a fun environment to learn in, but he said with family members in the industry he understands the value of the drills and rehearsals.

“With the sense of urgency, you need to go, and you need to do it fast, but you need to do it in a manner,” Waybright said. “The first priority in my rescue is the safety of you and the safety of your team, and if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything else.”

Brady said the program is over, above, and with different expectations than most programs. The lifesaving lessons also come with a steady dose of “soft skills” designed to train them to be ward-winning mine rescue professionals and good citizens that understand decorum.

“We drive it home—you’re going to look people in the eye, you’re going to shake hands, you’re going to pick the garbage up when it needs to be picked up, and they are immediately employable,” Brady said.

Also Wednesday, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Williamson traveled to the MSHA Pittsburgh Safety and Health Technology Center for a roundtable discussion about opioid use disorder in mining communities and workplace prevention efforts. Also, a new publication for employers to help protect their workers from opioid use disorder will be announced.

“We want as many people to know that these resources are out there,” Williamson said. “So, people can use them, and miners can use them and address the issues because they have become health and safety issues.”

The Brookwood Sago Grant program was established under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 and honors the 25 miners who perished in mine disasters at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama, in 2001 and at the Sago Mine in Buckhannon, West Virginia, in 2006.