West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 56 - Miners' Health, Safety And Training › Title 56 - LEGISLATIVE RULE OFFICE OF MINERS' HEALTH, SAFETY AND TRAINING › Series 56-17 - Rule Governing Organization and Implementation Procedures for Control of Coal Dust, Rock Dust Standards › Section 56-17-5 - Coal Dust Survey Implementation Procedure

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
5.1. The Director, or his/her designated
				authorized representative, shall conduct a coal dust survey of each mine by
				collecting samples at locations that are representative of the conditions found
				in said mine. The coal dust survey shall be conducted at least twice each year
				or more frequently at the discretion of the Director.
5.2. The detailed procedures for the
				performance of the coal dust survey shall be published in the coal-dust
				practices survey program and posted on the OM HST website and are incorporated
				by reference herein.
Modifications of these procedures may be made by the Director
				  after consultation with the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety. The OMHST
				  shall make copies of the coal-dust practices survey program documentation
				  available to miners and operators upon request.
5.3. Each coal dust survey shall include, at
				a minimum, a random sample location no more than one thousand (1,000) feet from
				the working section loading point in a room and pillar mine and no more than
				one thousand (1,000) feet from the tailgate or maingate in a longwall mine. At
				the discretion of the Director or an Inspector, samples may be taken at other
				locations based upon proximity to a potential ignition source or based upon the
				appearance that conditions in the mine are substantially inferior to minimum
				mandatory coal dust requirements.
5.4. All entries in the section shall be
				sampled in a line roughly perpendicular to the direction of the entry in which
				the initial sample was taken, but no more than three (3) crosscuts inby or
				outby such a line, with the location selected being the same distance from the
				inby edge of the pillar as that in the initial entry.
5.5. Samples will be taken from the top
				one-eighth (1/8) inch of material in a band at the location selected. The
				material shall be separately collected from the ribs and roof from that of the
				floor. Each sample of collected material shall be sieved through a standard
				20-mesh per linear inch sieve unless it retains sufficient moisture to prevent
				passing the sieve and is not considered too wet. If the sample is too wet to
				sieve, then the un-sieved material shall be placed in the sample bag.
5.6. Each sample shall be placed in an OMHST
				Mine Dust Sample Bag and sealed. The data sheet located on each OMHST Mine Dust
				Sample Bag which provides the unique bag identification number shall be
				completed and placed in the OMHST Mine Dust Sample Bag prior to being sealed.
				The surveyor shall complete the chain of custody portion of the OMHST Mine Dust
				Sample Bag to include his or her name and the date the sample was collected.
				The surveyor shall maintain custody of the OMHST Mine Dust Sample Bag until it
				is either delivered to the coal dust lab or handed to the clerk at the United
				States Post Office for shipment to the coal dust lab.