RLC awarded largest 2018 Brookwood-Sago grant

INA, Ill. (Oct. 5, 2018) - Rend Lake College has been chosen as the largest recipient of the 2018 Brookwood-Sago grant totaling $97,853.50 from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

The grant is part of $250,000 in awards issued by the MSHA this year. The funding is designed to help organizations develop and conduct training programs that support safety and prevent health hazards in underground mines.

Specifically, RLC will utilize the funds for its Mine Emergencies: Train, Prepare and Prevent project, said Gabriele Farner, Dean of Applied Science & Advanced Technology. This two-fold project includes, first, an invitation to rescue teams and fire brigades from Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to participate in mine rescue and firefighting skills at RLC’s Coal Mine Training Center or at Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg. The grant funds will provide for instruction and food during the training.

“Being awarded the Brookwood-Sago grant allows a regional partnership between RLC and Southeastern Illinois College. This reinforces a regional commitment to mine safety and skill readiness to meet the demands of the mining industry,” Farner explained. “Mine rescue teams provided letters of support for this project, and now they will benefit with a free day of training.”

Part two of the project will utilize grant funds to reduce training costs for new miners in accordance with MSHA standards, thereby helping many local, small mines to create a stronger pool of candidates.

All of the trainings funded by the grant will begin this month and run through the end of September 2019. Farner estimates 400 miners will be trained at RLC and SIC during this time.

RLC was first awarded a Brookwood-Sago grant in 2009 totaling $50,000, which was used to train mine fire brigades and rescue teams, plus develop new curriculum for future trainings. In 2012, RLC received a second $93,000 grant that, in addition to training, allowed for the construction of the three-story firefighting facility, built from shipping containers, on the west side of campus. A third grant in 2016 of $133,240 focused on continued training and preparedness for mine emergencies.

A provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 established the Brookwood-Sago grant program to promote mine safety while honoring the 25 miners who died in Brookwood, Ala., in 2001, at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine, and in Buchannon, W. Va., in 2006, at the Sago Mine.

For more information about RLC’s Brookwood-Sago grant or mine trainings, contact the Applied Science and Technology Division at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1261. Read more about the Brookwood-Sago grants online at www.msha.gov.

Other recipients of the 2018 grants are as follows:

• Pennsylvania State University in State College, Penn., is receiving $50,000 to plan, design, develop, and evaluate a three-model training program that will enhance safety regarding inspecting, working around, and performing maintenance on conveyor belts.
• United Mine Workers of America Career Centers Inc. in Prosperity, Penn., is receiving $50,000 to develop a video and companion training documents to better prepare responsible persons for Mine Emergency Response Development exercises.
• West Virginia University Research Corporation in Morgantown, W. Va., is receiving $52,146.50 to provide emergency prevention and preparedness training to coal miners and coal mine operators in the areas of self-contained self-rescuer expectations and mine rescue.

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