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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=23397
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: March 24, 2017 12:53 PM
From: Representative Jeffrey P. Pyle
To: All House members
Subject: Amendment to the Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act (Act 55 of 2008)- - Certification of Emergency Medical Responders
 
In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that will update and coordinate provisions in the Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act (Act 55 of 2008) with changes made in the Emergency Medical Services Act (Act 39 of 2009).

To further improve miner safety an amendment to the Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act is necessary to clarify provisions regarding emergency medical personnel in an operating underground mine. Currently, the Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act only provides for Emergency Medical Technician’s (EMT) at underground mine sites. The enactment of the Emergency Medical Services Act in 2009 resulted in Pennsylvania adopting a national certification standard for all its emergency medical personnel, and offered additional certification options including an emergency medical responder (EMR). These certification changes have made some training requirements to be certified as an EMT unnecessary for emergencies that could occur in an underground mine.

My legislation would allow mine operators to have either EMT’s or EMR’s on duty in an underground coal mine. Under the bill, EMR’s employed in underground mining would be required to complete three additional courses from the EMT certification that have applicability to mining emergencies. The bill also authorizes the Board of Coal Mine Safety to add additional required certification courses in the future at its discretion.

Finally, the bill removes obsolete language that is no longer applicable given the passage of the Emergency Medical Services Act.

If you have any questions about this legislation, please contact Erica Godsey at egodsey@pahousegop.com

Thank you.

Jeff



Introduced as HB1341