OSHA hazard communication jurisdiction at mines

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

March 3, 1992

MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS

THROUGH: LEO CAREY, DIRECTOR
OFFICE OF FIELD PROGRAMS

FROM: PATRICIA K. CLARK, DIRECTOR
DIRECTORATE OF COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS

SUBJECT: Hazard Communication and Mining Operations

We were recently contacted by Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials regarding the application of OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) on mining property within MSHA jurisdiction. According to the attached materials, MSHA reported that last November, OSHA cited a sand and gravel operation for not labeling and providing MSDS(s) for silica sand in accordance with the requirements of OSHA's HCS.

This memorandum is to remind you that the requirements of OSHA's HCS to develop and transmit MSDSs to downstream employers cannot be applied to mine operations under MSHA jurisdiction. Please review the attached materials, including the MSHA "Program Information Bulletin" on this issue, and insure that compliance personnel are aware of its contents.
We have informed MSHA that the Program Information Bulletin is now out of date since OSHA expanded the HCS in 1987 to cover all workplaces (within OSHA jurisdiction), and that MSHA itself has proposed a hazard communication rule (Federal Register, November 2, 1990, Vol. 55, No. 213, pages 46400 through 46441) which will, when finalized, be applicable to mining operations under their jurisdiction.

Enclosures
cc:MSHA

MAR 3 1992
Mr. Kenneth T. Howard
Acting Administrator
for Metal and Nonmetal
Mine Safety and Health Administration
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Howard:

Thank you for your letter of January 16, to Mr. Roy E. Clason, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Directorate of Policy. Mr. Clason forwarded your letter to OSHA's Directorate of Compliance Programs for response.
You wrote regarding the application of OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), 29 CFR 1910.1200, to mining concerns within MSHA's jurisdiction. Your letter referred to an incident which occurred in November, 1991, in which OSHA cited a sand and gravel operation for various violations of the HCS, including material safety data sheet (MSDS) requirements. The OSHA inspection of the sand and gravel site was apparently conducted as a follow-up to an inspection of a construction site where a container of silica sand, originating at the sand and gravel operation, was labeled inconsistently with the OSHA HCS requirements.
Your letter requested that we take steps to insure that OSHA field personnel are reminded of the fact that our HCS "does not apply to mines under MSHA jurisdiction and that mine operators are not required to comply with the OSHA requirement to send MSDSs to downstream users." Accordingly, we have developed the enclosed memorandum for all OSHA Regional Administrators (copy enclosed).
Your letter also transmitted a copy of MSHA's April 7, 1986, Program Information Bulletin No. 86-2M, entitled "Hazard Communication." We have reviewed this document and would like to remind you that this document is now out of date. It states that OSHA's HCS is only applicable to SIC codes 20 through 39, and that we have "proposed to extend coverage...to general industry." OSHA revised its HCS to cover all employers with employees exposed to hazardous chemicals on August 24, 1987 (Federal Register, Vol. 52, No. 163, pages 31852-31886), and MSHA itself has proposed a Hazard Communication Standard applicable to mine operators (FR, Vol 55, 213, November 2, 1990, pages 46400-46439). These facts should be included in any future revisions of your Program Information Bulletin on this topic.

Sincerely,
Dorothy L. Strunk
Acting Assistant Secretary
Enclosure

[MSHA request letter, bulletin and regulatory attachments reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]