The money will be used to produce an instructional safety video.
“This video is unique in that we will be doing a day in the life of a mine examiner,” Ken Russell, Director of Mine Training at BSCC, said.
The video will show examiners how to look for hazards and how to check for nine mandatory safety requirements and how to conduct a pre-shift examination.
Mine examiners are required to have a state certification as a mine foreman or fire boss.
The video will be shot in something of a reality-show format, with a camera mounted on the head of a mine examiner. The examiner will narrate the video and explain what he’s doing and what he’s required to do.
Russell said he hopes to begin shooting the video in January 2013.
“We are partnering with Walter Energy and North River Mine, as well as MSHA’s District office in Birmingham and the state Department of Labor.
The video will be sent to every underground mine in the United States. The BSCC team with also present the video at the National Mine Training Academy in Beckley, W.Va.
The department has previously produced safety videos using grant money.
“We at Bevill and the mining group are really excited about this Brookwood-Sage Grant,” Russell said.
The department provided training for almost 8,000 miners in the last year at its Sumiton location, but the videos give them a chance to help train miners outside the area as well.
“You can’t overemphasize training in mining,” Russell said. “It is the first line of defense related to safety.”