For new and newly hired miners at aggregate and other surface mines covered by Part 46: know the training your operator must give you and when, what it covers, and how to check that it is recorded. Awareness only; it does not replace your operator's Part 46 training.
Need proof of training? The full course (20 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
Take the coursePart 46 sets the training rules at shell dredging, sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate and surface limestone mines.
A new miner is starting work as a miner and is not an experienced miner. For someone employed as a miner on or after October 2, 2000, becoming an experienced miner takes completing 24 hours of new miner training and at least 12 cumulative months of surface mining or equivalent experience.
Reference: 30 CFR 46.1 · 30 CFR 46.2(g)(1)(i) · 30 CFR 46.2(g)(1)(ii) · 30 CFR 46.2(g)(2) · 30 CFR 46.2(i) · 30 CFR 46.2(d)(1)(iv) · 30 CFR 46.11(a) · 30 CFR 46.11(f) · 30 CFR 46.11(b) · 30 CFR 46.2(h)
Your employer must give each new miner no less than 24 hours of new miner training, in three steps:
Reference: 30 CFR 46.5(a) · 30 CFR 46.5(b) · 30 CFR 46.5(c) · 30 CFR 46.5(d) · 30 CFR 46.5(f) · 30 CFR 46.5(g)
Before you start work, your training must include:
A tour of the mine, or of portions representative of the whole mine. The method of mining or operation is explained and observed.
Recognizing and avoiding electrical hazards and other hazards at the mine, such as traffic patterns and control, mobile equipment (haul trucks, front-end loaders), and loose or unstable ground.
Emergency medical procedures, escape and emergency evacuation plans, fire warning signals and firefighting procedures.
Health and safety aspects and safe work procedures of the tasks you will be assigned, the mandatory standards for them, chemical hazards in your work area, how to protect yourself, and the mine's HazCom program.
The statutory rights of miners and their representatives under the Mine Act.
The line of authority and responsibilities of supervisors and miners' representatives.
Your employer's rules and procedures for reporting hazards.
Reference: 30 CFR 46.5(b)(1) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(2) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(3) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(4) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(5) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(6) · 30 CFR 46.5(b)(7)
If you are reassigned to a new task you have no previous work experience in, your employer must train you in its health and safety aspects before you perform it. The same applies when a change in your assigned task affects the health and safety risks you face.
Each miner gets no less than 8 hours of annual refresher training: the first no later than 12 months after beginning work at the mine, and each one after that no later than 12 months after the previous refresher was completed. It must include changes at the mine that could adversely affect your health or safety.
A newly hired experienced miner also gets training before beginning work on the same seven subjects (walkaround, hazards, emergencies, tasks, rights, authority, hazard reporting), plus instruction and demonstration on self-rescue and respiratory devices, if used at the mine, no later than 60 calendar days after beginning work.
Reference: 30 CFR 46.7(a) · 30 CFR 46.7(b) · 30 CFR 46.7(c) · 30 CFR 46.8(a) · 30 CFR 46.8(a)(2) · 30 CFR 46.8(b) · 30 CFR 46.6(b) · 30 CFR 46.6(a) · 30 CFR 46.6(c) · 30 CFR 46.6(f) · 30 CFR 46.8(a)(1)
Each training session must follow the written training plan, be presented by a competent person, and be in a language you understand.
Training must be conducted during normal working hours, and you are paid at the rate you would have earned doing your normal work.
Reference: 30 CFR 46.9(a) · 30 CFR 46.9(d)(1) · 30 CFR 46.9(d)(4) · 30 CFR 46.9(e) · 30 CFR 46.9(f) · 30 CFR 46.10(a) · 30 CFR 46.4(a)(2) · 30 CFR 46.4(a)(3) · 30 CFR 46.4(a)(1) · 30 CFR 46.9(d)
Need proof of training? The full course (20 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
Take the courseFact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on MSHA 30 CFR Part 46 (46.1, 46.2 and 46.4 through 46.11). It is not an OSHA card or license, it is not an MSHA Form 5000-23 or any other Part 46 training record, and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 30 CFR 46.5, 46.6, 46.7, 46.8 or 46.11. Your production-operator or independent contractor must still provide, under its written training plan and presented by a competent person: no less than 24 hours of new miner training (no less than 4 hours before you begin work at the mine; instruction on self-rescue and respiratory devices, if used at the mine, and a review of first aid methods no later than 60 calendar days after you begin work; and the balance no later than 90 calendar days after you begin work); newly hired experienced miner training before you begin work at the mine; new task training before you perform a new task; no less than 8 hours of annual refresher training no later than 12 months after you begin work at the mine and, thereafter, no later than 12 months after the previous annual refresher training was completed; and site-specific hazard awareness training before any person it covers is exposed to mine hazards. That training must be recorded and certified under 30 CFR 46.9.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.