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Mine Safety New Miner Awareness (Part 46)

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.

Based on MSHA 30 CFR Part 46 (training at sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate and surface limestone mines, and shell dredging) · about 6 min read

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.

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Who Part 46 covers

Miners, experienced miners, and everyone else on site

Part 46 sets the training rules at shell dredging, sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate and surface limestone mines.

You are a miner ifyou work at the mine and are engaged in mining operations (including operators, supervisors, and contractor employees doing mining operations), or you are a construction worker exposed to hazards of mining operations.
Not minersScientific workers, delivery workers, customers (including over-the-road truck drivers), vendors and visitors, and maintenance or service workers who do not work at the mine site for frequent or extended periods. They get site-specific hazard awareness training before they are exposed to mine hazards, unless an experienced miner familiar with the site's hazards accompanies them at all times.

New or experienced?

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)

New miner training

24 hours, on a schedule

Your employer must give each new miner no less than 24 hours of new miner training, in three steps:

Before you begin workNo less than 4 hours, covering the subjects on the next page and site-specific hazards.
Within 60 calendar daysUse, care and maintenance of self-rescue and respiratory devices (if used at the mine), and a review of first aid methods.
Within 90 calendar daysThe balance of the 24 hours, on other subjects that promote health and safety at the mine.
Until all 24 hours are doneYou must work where an experienced miner can observe that you are working safely.
Two exceptions. If you have less than 12 cumulative months of surface mining or equivalent experience but completed new miner training (under 30 CFR 46.5 or 48.25) within the 36 months before beginning work at this mine, you do not have to repeat new miner training; your employer must still give you the before-you-begin-work training above. A new miner training course completed under 30 CFR 48.5 or 48.25 within the 36 months before beginning work may be used to satisfy the 24-hour, before-you-begin-work and 60-day requirements if it is relevant to those subjects.

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)

New miner training

What the first 4 hours must cover

Before you start work, your training must include:

1 · Walkaround

A tour of the mine, or of portions representative of the whole mine. The method of mining or operation is explained and observed.

2 · Hazard recognition

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.

3 · Emergencies

Emergency medical procedures, escape and emergency evacuation plans, fire warning signals and firefighting procedures.

4 · Your tasks

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.

5 · Your rights

The statutory rights of miners and their representatives under the Mine Act.

6 · Who is in charge

The line of authority and responsibilities of supervisors and miners' representatives.

7 · Reporting hazards

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)

New tasks and refreshers

New task training and the annual refresher

Changing jobs at the mine

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.

The exception: task training is not required if you have been trained in a similar task or have done the task before and can demonstrate the skills to do it safely. Your employer must observe you doing it safely to decide that.

Annual refresher

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.

Experienced but new to this employer?

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.

Exception: your employer is not required to repeat that training for an experienced miner who returns to the same mine after an absence of 12 months or less. Instead it must train the miner, before the miner begins work, on any changes at the mine during the absence that could adversely affect health or safety, and provide any missed annual refresher training no later than 90 calendar days after the miner begins 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)

Records and pay

Your training record and your pay

How it is delivered

Each training session must follow the written training plan, be presented by a competent person, and be in a language you understand.

How it is recorded

Paid time

Training must be conducted during normal working hours, and you are paid at the rate you would have earned doing your normal work.

Your part: never sign a form saying you received training you did not get. Keep your copies; your next employer may ask for them.

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 course

Sources

Fact-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.