What is required for new miner training?

At least 24 hours under 30 CFR 46.5 — at least 4 hours before work begins, self-rescue/respiratory and first-aid instruction within 60 days, and the remaining hours within 90 days.

What is required for newly hired experienced miner training?

Required subjects before work begins, plus self-rescue/respiratory device instruction within 60 days, under 30 CFR 46.6. There is no fixed hour count, unlike new miner training.

What is annual refresher training?

At least 8 hours every 12 months covering changes at the mine that could affect a miner's health or safety, under 30 CFR 46.8.

How long must Part 46 training records be retained?

During the miner's employment plus at least 60 days after termination, under 30 CFR 46.9 — except annual refresher records, which need only be kept 2 years.

MSHA Resource Center · Training

MSHA Part 46 Training Requirements

Q: What is MSHA Part 46?

The MSHA training and retraining rule (30 CFR Part 46) for shell dredging, sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate, and surface limestone mines — commonly described by MSHA as the aggregate-industry training rule.

Q: Who does Part 46 apply to?

Miners and other people at the specific mine types listed in 30 CFR 46.1. Underground and coal mines are covered by Part 48 instead. Confirm your own operation's classification if you're unsure.

Q: Is MSHA Form 5000-23 required?

No. 30 CFR 46.9 allows Form 5000-23 or any other form that contains the same required information.

A plain-language guide to what Part 46 actually requires — new miner training, newly hired experienced miner training, task training, annual refresher, and site-specific hazard awareness — plus a free training-requirements checklist. No signup required.

1. What is MSHA Part 46?

Part 46 (30 CFR Part 46) is MSHA’s training and retraining rule for a specific set of surface operations. MSHA’s own training pages describe it in plain terms as the aggregate-industry training rule — covering operations like sand and gravel, crushed stone, and lime and cement operations built on surface limestone.

MSHA requirement30 CFR 46.1: “The provisions of this part set forth the mandatory requirements for training and retraining miners and other persons at shell dredging, sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate, and surface limestone mines.”

Underground mines and coal mines are trained under a different rule, Part 48, which — unlike Part 46 — requires MSHA to approve the training plan before it takes effect. Part 46 plans are considered approved automatically once they contain the required minimum information.

2. Who does Part 46 apply to?

Every miner at a covered operation, plus — for site-specific hazard awareness specifically — people who aren’t miners but are on site: office staff, delivery drivers, vendors, customers, and visitors.

Recommended practiceDon’t assume every surface operation is automatically Part 46 — confirm your site’s classification against 30 CFR 46.1 (or check with your MSHA district office) before building a training plan around it, especially if your operation is a hybrid site or processes material other than what’s listed above.

Category	Hours	Timing	Who
New miner 30 CFR 46.5	24 hrs minimum	≥4 hrs before work; self-rescue/first aid within 60 days; rest within 90 days	A person with no prior surface mining experience
Newly hired experienced miner 30 CFR 46.6	No fixed hours	Required subjects before work; self-rescue instruction within 60 days	An experienced miner newly hired by this operator or contractor
New task training 30 CFR 46.7	As needed for the task	Before the miner is assigned a task they have no experience in	Any miner assigned a new task
Annual refresher 30 CFR 46.8	8 hrs / year	Within 12 months of hire, then within 12 months of the last one	Every miner, every year
Site-specific hazard awareness 30 CFR 46.11	As needed	Before exposure to the site's hazards	Miners moving between sites, plus non-miners on site (visitors, vendors, delivery drivers, etc.)

3. New miner training

A new miner is someone beginning work as a miner who isn’t already an “experienced miner” under 30 CFR 46.2. Once earned, experienced-miner status is permanent — it doesn’t reset if someone changes employers.

At least 24 hours total, under 30 CFR 46.5
At least 4 hours before the new miner begins work — mine tour, hazard recognition, emergency procedures, task health/safety, miner rights, chain of command
Self-rescue/respiratory device instruction and first-aid review within 60 calendar days
The remaining hours within 90 calendar days
Until the full 24 hours is complete, the new miner must work where an experienced miner can observe them working safely

4. Newly hired experienced miner training

A different, shorter requirement for someone who already qualifies as an experienced miner but is starting with a new employer (an experienced miner simply changing mine sites for the same employer does not trigger this).

MSHA requirement30 CFR 46.6 requires the same category of before-work subjects as new miner training (site tour, hazard recognition, emergency procedures, task health/safety, rights, chain of command, hazard reporting) plus self-rescue/respiratory instruction within 60 days — but sets no fixed number of hours.

5. Annual refresher training

At least 8 hours, every miner, every year — 30 CFR 46.8
First due no later than 12 months after the miner starts
Each following year, due within 12 months of the previous refresher
Must cover changes at the mine that could adversely affect health or safety

Typical subjects mines choose to cover: health and safety standards, chemical hazards, emergency evacuation, ground conditions, traffic control, electrical hazards, mobile equipment and conveyor hazards, fall protection, and machine guarding — the specific mix is an operational choice driven by what changed at the site, not a fixed MSHA list.

6. Task training and when it’s required

Required before a miner performs a task they have no previous experience in, or when a task changes in a way that affects its health or safety risks — under 30 CFR 46.7.

Recommended practiceTask training isn’t required again for a miner who has already been trained on a similar task or has relevant experience and can demonstrate they can do it safely — document that demonstration/observation so it’s clear why training was skipped.

7. Site-specific hazard awareness training

Broader than the other categories — it also covers people who aren’t miners: office staff, delivery drivers, vendors, customers, and visitors. Anyone escorted at all times by an experienced miner familiar with the site’s hazards is exempt.

Under 30 CFR 46.12, the production-operator is primarily responsible for making sure this training reaches a contractor’s employees on their site, while the independent contractor is primarily responsible for its own employees’ new miner, experienced miner, task, and refresher training.

8. What must a training record contain?

Under 30 CFR 46.9, every training record must include:

The trained person’s printed full name
The type of training, its duration, and the date received
The name of the competent person who provided the training
The mine name and MSHA identification number
A signed certification from the person the training plan designates as responsible

9. How long must records be retained?

MSHA requirementTraining records: kept during the miner’s employment, and at least 60 calendar days after they terminate. Annual refresher records specifically: only 2 years. Copies must also be given to the miner at set points (completing new miner training, experienced miner training, each task training, and each annual refresher).

10. MSHA Form 5000-23

Form 5000-23 is MSHA’s standard certificate-of-training form. Using it isn’t mandatory — 30 CFR 46.9 permits Form 5000-23 or any other form that contains the same required information. A site can use its own record format as long as everything §46.9 requires is on it.

11. What the training plan needs to address

Under 30 CFR 46.3, every operator or contractor needs a written training plan covering:

New miner and newly hired experienced miner training
New task training
Annual refresher training
Site-specific hazard awareness training
Mine name(s) and MSHA ID number(s), and who’s responsible for health and safety training
Teaching methods, course materials, and subject areas
Who provides the training
How the plan evaluates whether the training actually worked

A plan with all of the minimum information above is considered approved automatically — Part 46 doesn’t require MSHA sign-off first, unlike Part 48.

12. Free Part 46 training checklist

A side-by-side reference covering hours, timing, and who each training category applies to, plus a records checklist — free, no signup, no email required.

↓ Download the free checklist (PDF)

A practical reference, not an official MSHA form — confirm against the source sections below before relying on it for compliance.

Keep your forms. Lose the paperwork.

Already tracking Part 46 training on paper or spreadsheets?

New miner sign-offs, task-training records, annual refresher logs, site-specific hazard awareness acknowledgements — Part 46 generates a lot of paperwork. Send us the forms your site already uses and we’ll convert them into guided electronic records for DocuCircuit: filled out on a phone, tablet, or computer, including offline, signed electronically, routed to the people who need them, and stored where you can find them again.

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13. Official sources

30 CFR § 46.1 — ScopeRequirement
30 CFR § 46.2 — DefinitionsRequirement
30 CFR § 46.3 — Training plansRequirement
30 CFR § 46.5 — New miner trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.6 — Newly hired experienced miner trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.7 — New task trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.8 — Annual refresher trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.9 — Records of trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.11 — Site-specific hazard awareness trainingRequirement
30 CFR § 46.12 — Responsibility for independent contractor trainingRequirement
MSHA — Training and Education (Part 46 guidance, forms, plan resources)MSHA guidance
eCFR — Title 30, Subchapter C (Education and Training)Full regulation

Regulations change — check the linked eCFR/Cornell source for the current text before relying on a summary, including this one.

This page is a practical resource, not legal advice, and does not create or modify any MSHA requirement. DocuCircuit supports your inspection and recordkeeping processes; it does not determine or guarantee regulatory compliance and does not replace a competent person, your own procedures, training, or legal review. Requirements vary by operation — confirm your site’s classification and applicable rules yourself. Where this page states a specific numeric requirement (hours, timing, retention), that is drawn from the cited regulation above; where it offers a suggestion beyond that text, it is labeled as a recommended practice, not a requirement.

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