The SX Mine serves as a training resource for several federal and state agencies as well as orgainzations devoded to underground tunnel safety and miner rescue. One of the most exciting of these activities is the establishment of a cooperative health and safety training program for underground construction and tunneling workers between the University of Arizona, Mining and Geological Engineering Department and Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA).
Since July 2000, nearly 300 miners from 7 states have participated in this 80 hour training program, where demand for this course is exceeding the current capacity of the laboratory infrastructure. Work to expand the laboratory facilities to accommodate more training sessions is on going and will enable several new health and safety training programs to be offered, including confined spaced excavation, micro-tunneling, tunnel/mine rescue, and additional task training activities (e.g., explosives and shotcreting). This unique partnership, the first of its kind in the country, is a collaboration between labor, higher education, and union contractors with the expressed intent of reducing industry related accidents and lost-time injuries through improved training of the general workforce. While particularly focused to workers to the industry, the 80-hour training program meets Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requirements. In addition to traditional health and saftey topics, the course provides students with hands-on task training of unit operations, including drilling, mucking, blasting, scaling, rock support systems, utility installation, air and gas monitoring, and communication systems. The program supports and strengthens the existing health and safety programs taught as part of the mining engineering curriculum.
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