The signing ceremony.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) have teamed up to improve miner health and safety.

In a signing ceremony last Tuesday, the two parties to the co-operative effort said the leading issue was accident and injury prevention through proper use of equipment operator restraint systems, like seat belts.

AEM and MSHA plan to address other equipment-related safety issues, like slips and falls from equipment, equipment roll-overs and tip-overs, operator fatigue, equipment fires, cab penetrations, entanglements, collisions and equipment misuse.

AEM president Dennis Slater said equipment manufacturers were committed to investing resources to positively impact on safe machine operations.

"This new alliance provides a unique and direct way to accomplish this goal," he said.

MSHA assistant secretary of labour Richard Stickler said MSHA and AEM would work closely to address issues related to mining equipment safety.

AEM and MSHA will develop and distribute safety training materials, like DVDs, posters, stickers and flyers, to the mining community. The material, designed to help miners recognise, avoid and prevent equipment safety hazards, will also be available on the organisations' websites.

The alliance agreement called for the development of new ways to effectively communicate hazard warnings and messages.

AEM has introduced a free database of pictorials for use in safety signage (Forkliftaction.com News #282).