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SENTINELS OF SAFETY AWARDS
Revisions to the Sentinels of Safety Awards Program, February 11 2005

The most prestigious award in the mining industry is the Sentinels of Safety Trophy, cosponsored by the National Mining Association (NMA) and the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), awarded to those mines with the best safety records in the country.

The 1925 Sentinels of Safety Award, announced by Herbert Hoover when he was Secretary of Commerce, was the first of the annual safety competitions that have continued uninterrupted to the present day. The trophy and our country's dedication to safety have grown in stature and importance with each succeeding year.

The idea for the National Safety Competition (Sentinels of Safety) was conceived during that time that President Hoover, a former mining engineer, served as Secretary of Commerce with the Bureau of Mines under his jurisdiction. Realizing the dire need for improving mine safety, Hoover arranged for a conference of interested persons to discuss mine safety, a proposal was made to establish a nationwide mine safety competition, a proposal readily approved by Hoover.

The symbol of the competition has been the bronze Sentinels of Safety trophy originally donated by Explosives Engineer Magazine, which cosponsored the competition with the Bureau of Mines for the first 36 years.

A statue of a woman and a child is the prominent feature of the trophy, with engraved plates depicting different types of mining and a winners nameplate on the base. In the words of the designer of the trophy, Begni Del Piatta, a renowned Italian sculptor,

"Let the worker carry around with him a mental picture of his wife and child, whose happiness depends upon his safe return after a day's work, and those loved ones become his surest Sentinels of Safety."

Twenty trophies are awarded each year to winners in eight types of mines: Underground Metal, Underground Nonmetal, Open Pit Metal/Nonmetal, Surface Coal, Underground Coal, Quarry, Dredge and Bank or Pit divisions respectively.

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of the annual Sentinels of Safety award program is to :
  • recognize achievement of outstanding safety records
  • stimulate greater interest in safety and
  • encourage development of more effective accident prevention programs among the Nation's coal and mineral extractive industries. Partnership Agreement between MSHA, the Bituminous Coal Operators' Association and NMA

    This program is cosponsored by the National Mining Association(NMA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration(MSHA). All active and intermittently active mineral mining operations required to report injury and employment data under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 are eligible to participate. Winners represent operations in ten industry categories that worked the most employee-hours in a year without suffering a lost-time injury. To qualify for the award, a mine must complete at least 30,000 employee work-hours during a year without a lost-time injury or fatality.

    Sentinels of Safety Awards for 2006:

    Large Company Award Winners


    Surface Coal – Farmersburg Mine, Black Beauty Coal Co. of Peabody Energy, Evansville, Ind.


    Underground Coal – Band Mill 2, Cumberland River Coal Co. of Arch Coal, Inc., Eolia, Ky.

    Underground Metal – No winner for 2006


    Underground Nonmetal – Peerless Mine, Mississippi Lime Company, St. Genevieve, Mo.


    Bank or Pit – Sloan Quarry #1001, Bardon Materials/Aggregate Industries-U.S., North Las Vegas, Nev.


    Coal Processing Facility – Burke Branch Tipple, Premier Elkhorn Coal Co. of Teco Coal Corp., Myra, Ky.


    Dredge – Briggs Plant, Fordyce, Ltd., Victoria, Tex.


    Metal/Nonmetal Mill – Sandersville Mill, J.M. Huber Corp., Sandersville, Ga.


    Open Pit – Rio Tinto Minerals-Boron Operations, Rio Tinto, Boron, Calif.

    Quarry – Tower Rock Stone Co.-St. Genevieve, Tower Rock Stone Co., St. Genevieve, Mo.

    Small Company Award Winners


    Surface Coal – State Industries Strips, State Industries, Inc., East Kittanning, Pa.


    Underground Coal – Abundance Coal Mine, Abundance Coal Inc., Kite, Ky.


    Underground Metal – K-2 Mine Site, Kinross Gold Corp. Kettle River Operations, Republic, Wash.


    Underground Nonmetal – Lyons Salt Co. Mine, Lyons Salt Co., Lyons, Kan.

    Bank or Pit – Northumberland Sand Plant, Central Builders Supply Co., Sunbury, Pa.


    Coal Processing Facility – Columbians Pits, Buckeye Industrial Mining Co., Lisbon, Ohio


    Dredge – Augusta Sand Mine, Rinker Materials of Florida, Inc., Grovetown, Ga.


    Metal/Nonmetal Mill – Forks of the River Quarry, Rinker Materials of Florida, Inc., Knoxville, Tenn.

    Open Pit – Tumbledown Mine, Milwhite Inc., Van Horn, Tex.


    Quarry – Green Rock Co., Inc. #1, Green Rock Company, Inc., Alto, Tex.

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