Safety Agency Failing to Protect Miners From Silica Dust, OIG Says

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is failing to protect coal miners from silica dust, with outdated exposure limits, infrequent dust sampling and inadequate regulations, the Department of Labor's inspector general said in a strongly worded report. “Even though MSHA has known its silica limit did not align with current scientific recommended limits, it continued to maintain essentially the same silica limit established in the 1960s,” reads the report, posted this month. The Inspector General's Office stated flatly that the mine safety agency “has...