The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is shifting gears when it comes to mine safety.
MSHA Coal Administrator Kevin Stricklin, a guest speaker at the 39th annual West Virginia Coal Mining Symposium in Charleston Wednesday, told MetroNews the agency is shedding light above ground.
"Last year there were 12 fatalities on the surface and 9 underground. So it tells us we need to focus more on surface operators,” Stricklin said following his appearance before operators.
MSHA Chief Joe Main kicked off a new campaign on Tuesday called "Rules to Live By 3." It deals with the safety precautions and regulations that every surface miner needs to know.
Stricklin says the agency is being proactive.
"In the month of January, we took every underground inspector and we sent them to surface mines and we asked them to talk to the miners and also share information with them about the fatalities that have been taking place at surface mines,” he said.
Stricklin says the dangers of underground mining are well known including: roof falls, methane explosions, belt fires. But on the surface, it's a different world.
"Bad breaks on equipment, not wearing your seat belt, truck drivers going over berms, operating unsafe equipment,” he said.
Stricklin stresses they're not abandoning underground mine inspections or enforcing federal laws, they're simply shifting part of their focus upwards.
"It's just the general public looks at it and they don't think there's as many hazards. And there shouldn't be at surface mines as there are underground,” he said. “But when you have those fatalities, you have to focus a lot of increased attention on these surface mines. We want to focus on where our problem is."
Stricklin says he has a big challenge ahead of him.
"I've got to find a way to move some of our underground inspectors to help surface mines."
The West Virginia Coal Mining Symposium runs through Friday at the Charleston Civic Center. Main is set to speak Thursday.