The Five W's and One H of the MSHA Form 5000-23

The Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) mission is to protect the health and safety of all people involved in the mining industry. MSHA accomplishes this mission through establishing and enforcing training standards and requirements, ensuring that miners and all others involved in the industry have the information they need to operate safely.

Enforcing training requirements necessitates proof or documentation verifying and certifying the training has been delivered and received. The MSHA Form 5000-23 provides that proof.

What is the MSHA Form 5000-23?

It's a training certificate required by the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 and Public Law 91-173 and amended Public Law 95-164. This form officially records and certifies a miner's completion of each training program required by Part 48, 75, and 77 training. All MSHA approved training programs must be properly recorded by an operator on an MSHA Form 5000-23 for each participant.

All legal mining operations are supplied with 5000-23 forms or Certificates of Training by the federal government through the U.S. Department of Labor. Changes have been made to the forms in recent years, however, all existing 5000-23 forms can be used.

Mining operators may propose the use of alternate forms, but these proposed forms must include at least as much information as a Form 5000-23 and sent for approval to the Director of Educational Policy and Development, MSHA, 201 12th Street South, Arlington, VA 22202. Alternate forms should be labeled MSHA Approved Alternate Form 5000-23 (current month and year).

Who must complete an MSHA Form 5000-23?

Operators must record and certify on an MSHA Form 5000-23 that each miner has received the specified training. Operators or operator's representatives are responsible for completing, recording, and maintaining the forms. Each miner must sign the form verifying he or she has completed the training or sign a statement of refusal to be retained as documentation by the operator.

The person signing the Form 5000-23 on behalf of the operator does not have to be physically present during the training session but does need to have sufficient knowledge that the training was conducted and take responsibility for certifying that the training was completed as indicated on the form.

To simplify record-keeping, all MSHA approved training programs completed within a miner's 12-month training cycle may be recorded on one Form 5000-23, provided that each time the miner completes a program, the operator initials and dates the form in the space adjacent to the type of training, as does the miner.

A copy of the certificate must always be given to the miner upon request.

When must an MSHA Form 5000-23 be completed or signed?

Each time a miner completes an approved training program, it must be recorded on an MSHA Form 5000-23, either by filling out a new form or with initials and dates on an existing form. A "training program" is any miner training, including but not limited to, new miner, newly employed experienced miner, task, annual refresher training, or hazard training, completed during a training cycle.

A training cycle may include several different courses or types of training programs, depending upon a miner's experience level and the specific mine's approved training plans.

According to Part 48 Section 30 CFR 48.5, new miners must receive no less than 40 hours of training. This training cycle may include courses on the statutory rights of miners, self-rescue and respiratory devices, entering and leaving the mind, transportation, communications, escapeways, evacuation, roof or ground control and ventilation, health, cleanup, hazard recognition, first aid, mine gases, and others as determined by the circumstances and conditions at the mine. The methods to determine successful completion of training are detailed in the mine's approved training plan.

According to Part 48 Section 30 CFR 48.6, experienced miners who are newly employed by the operator, transferred to the mine, transferred from surface to underground, or are returning the mine after an absence of more than 12 month must receive at least 8 hours of refresher training or the amount prescribed in the mine's approved training plan. This training cycle may include a variety of courses similar to those mentioned for new miners but may vary depending upon the specific training needs of the individual miner.

Part 48 Section 30 CFR 48.8 also requires annual refresher training of all miners of at least 8 hours or the amount prescribed in the mine's approved training plan.

All of these training cycles must be documented in their entirety. The mine operator is responsible for documenting each training program in each training cycle each miner has completed on one or multiple MSHA Form 5000-23s.

A miner is always entitled to a copy of his or her training certificates.

Copies of training certificates for currently employed miners must be kept at the mine site for two (2) years or for sixty (60) days after termination of employment.

Where should an MSHA Form 5000-23 be kept?

Operators must record, certify, and maintain MSHA Form 5000-23 for each miner as proof of requisite training. The training certificates for each miner must be available at the mine site for inspection by MSHA and for examination by the miners, the miners' representatives, and state inspection agencies. When a miner leaves the operator's employ, the minor is entitled to a copy of his or her training certificates upon request.

Why must an MSHA Form 5000-23 be completed for each training participant of Part 48 training program?

These forms are required by law under Sections 30 CFR 48.9 and 48.29 Records of Training to ensure and prove all miners have been properly trained. Failure to comply with this regulation or false certification of training given is punishable under Section 110(a) and (f) of the Act. Violators, upon conviction, may be punished by a fine of up to $500,000, or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.

How do you complete an MSHA Form 5000-23?

• Serial Number – This is an optional field which may be used for an employee's mine-specific identification number. Its use is not required.
• Item 1. – Enter the full name of the person receiving the training.
• Item 2. – Type of Approved Training Received
  • Check the appropriate box indicating what training was given.
  • Best practice is to mark only one box and complete a separate form for each type of training.
  • Use the bottom portion of this section to give specifics about individual task training and add information and initials each time a new task is trained.
• Item 3. – Type of Operation and Related Industry
  • Step 1 – Mark the box for the appropriate commodity, coal, metal, or nonmetal.
  • Step 2 – Mark the box for the appropriate location, surface or underground.
  • Step 3 – Mark the box for the appropriate training, construction or shaft & slope
• Item 4. – Date Training Requirements Completed
  • Enter a date in this blank only if the training is completed.
  • Check the box to the right of the date if the training checked in Item 2 is only partially, not fully completed.
    • Examples of partially completed training might include training for new miners given away from the site, utilizing only 8 of 16 hours of new miner training, or providing partially completed annual refresher training.
• Item 5. – Check Subjects Completed
  • Use this section only if the box for partially completed checked in Item 4.
  • This section is often used for conducting annual refresher training in increments throughout the refresher cycle or for new miner training.
  • Check the training subjects that have been completed.
• Item 6. – Operator Signature certifying completion
  • The operator or operator's representative taking responsibility for certifying that the miner completed the training signs here.
  • The signer may also include an instructor, a company safety official, a grantee, or a trainer or contractor employed by the operator.
• Item 7. – Mine Name, ID, & Location of Training
  • If the training was conducted at the mine, the operator or representative would enter the mine name, mine ID, and location.
  • If the training was conducted off site, by a cooperative instructor or grantee or another institution, the institution's name and address would be entered here.
• Item 8. – Trainee Signature
  • The student or person trained signs here to acknowledge the training was received.
  • The miner or person trained is always entitled to a copy of the certificate.