The Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the Mine Safety and Health Administration have formed an alliance to develop and distribute “best practices” training materials and other information to help protect miner health and safety related to equipment operation and maintenance.

AEM and MSHA officials participated in a special signing ceremony January 23, 2007 in Washington, DC, with MSHA represented by assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health Richard Stickler and AEM represented by AEM president Dennis Slater.

The leading issue at the outset of the cooperative effort is accident and injury prevention through the proper use of equipment operator restraint systems, such as seat belts.

Through the alliance, AEM and MSHA plan to also address other equipment-related safety issues, time and resources permitting. These include slips and falls from equipment, equipment roll-overs and tip-overs, operator fatigue, equipment fires, cab penetrations, entanglements, collisions, and equipment misuse.

The two organizations will work cooperatively through the alliance to develop and disseminate various mining equipment safety training materials, such as DVDs, posters, stickers and fliers to the mining community. Distributed through a variety of print and electronic media, including MSHA and AEM websites, the materials will be designed to help miners recognize, avoid and prevent equipment safety hazards.