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Some MSHA Regional Offices are attacking Part 46 Training Plans I received this e-mail from an organization which has been encouraging its membership to study and abide by the LAW and the published National Enforcement Policy. This has resulted in the inspectors from this regional office issuing fewer Part 56 citations. These operators houses are clean and they are formally contesting all "phony citations". It appears that this office has decided (as some others have done across the country) to issue Part 46 Training citations. Their problem is that the Operators/Independent Contractors have had more training (4-5 hours) in the Part 46 regulations than their regional inspectors. These business people are determined not to accept "phony" paper and to contest them if issued! The Regional Training Officer told the Assoc. Safety Officer that they wanted the training plans to have specific times for subjects taught (this is required for firms under Part 48). The SO queried, "are we doing something illegal?" The RTO replied, "no, but this is the way we (the regional office) like it done." The SO's reply was, "Then we are not breaking the LAW and are not required to do what your region would like for us to do." If you are abiding by the Regulation, the inspector has no grounds to cite you for your training plan. See the e-mail below. Click for the Part 46 Training Plan Regulation
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All, I just received a call from the local MSHA Training Office with some questions on the training that AGC has done over the past year. I subsequently contacted Mr. Frank Adkins to make sure that we are in fact working within the confines of the law. He assures me that we are absolutely within the law! MSHA thinks that I/( our organization. sic) needs to be more specific on the times indicated on the actual Refresher Certificate. I asked specifically of them are we doing something illegal if we do this? Their answer is NO we are not doing anything illegal. I also contacted Frank Adkins ( for my own sanity) and if you look specifically at 46.3 (b) (3) you are required to have a general description about the subject area and range of time that will cover this subject thus it is perfectly acceptable to indicate ".5 1.0, .5 2.0 and so on". The only time we MUST have specific times is in Part 48 which we do not fall under. If any of you are receiving static from inspectors please have them contact me directly as we are well within the confines of the law and only the Congress of the United States can change the laws as they are written. Please check your training plans to make sure you have updated them annually and have all competent persons listed on the plan! Thanks! A R Education and Safety Director
Click for link to all the Part 46 Regulations
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