Opinion ID: 154137
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Mine Safety and Health Act

Text: 2 In 1969, Congress enacted the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act (Coal Mine Act), Pub.L. No. 91-173, 83 Stat. 742, which subjected to regulation every coal mine affecting commerce and every operator of such coal mine. § 4, 83 Stat. at 744. Section 3(d) of the Coal Mine Act defined an operator as any owner, lessee, or other person who operates, controls, or supervises a coal mine. § 3(d), 83 Stat. at 744. Although section 3(d) did not specifically include independent contractors within the definition of operator, courts interpreted this provision to include independent contractors whenever the contractors, in performing services at a coal mine, controlled or supervised all or part of the mine. See Association of Bituminous Contractors, Inc. v. Andrus, 581 F.2d 853, 860-62 (D.C.Cir.1978) ([A]n independent construction company, which operates, controls, or supervises excavation work ... is an 'operator of a coal mine' within the meaning and purposes of [the Coal Mine Act].); Bituminous Coal Operators' Ass'n v. Secretary of Interior, 547 F.2d 240, 246 (4th Cir.1977) ([W]hen a company exercises control and supervision over a specific area of land while it is constructing one of the facilities mentioned in the act, it is functioning as an operator of a coal mine.). 3 In 1977, in order to improve and promote safety and health in the nation's mines, Congress amended the Coal Mine Act, renaming it the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. See Pub.L. No. 95-164, §§ 101, 102(a), 91 Stat. 1290. Congress broadened section 3(d) of the Coal Mine Act to include in the definition of operator any independent contractor performing services or construction at [a] mine. 30 U.S.C. § 802(d). The Secretary of Labor, through MSHA, an agency within the Department of Labor, see 29 U.S.C. § 557a, issued a regulation defining an independent contractor as any person ... [who] contracts to perform services or construction at a mine. 30 C.F.R. § 45.2(c).