On June 27, 2016, a 61-year old Mine Superintendent, with 24 years of experience, was killed at a limestone quarry. The victim was building a ramp to the lower bench, was positioning his haul truck to dump a load of material near the edge of a highwall, and rolled backwards over the 90 foot highwall.
Best Practices
- Utilize ground control methods, such as berms and dumping short to maintain distance from a drop off.
- Maintain equipment braking and steering systems in good repair and adjustment.
- Maintain control of self-propelled mobile equipment while it is in motion.
- Establish and discuss safe work procedures before beginning work. Routinely monitor work habits and examine work areas to ensure that safe work procedures are followed.
- Identify and control all hazards associated with the work to be performed.
- Ensure that the mining practice creates grades at the top of highwalls that slope down away from the edge.
- Follow the manufacturer’s recommended brake performance test procedures especially after brake maintenance is performed. Where no manufacturer test procedures are available, develop mine-specific brake performance test procedures.
- Train all truck drivers to maintain the truck perpendicular to the edge when backing up at a dump site. Slope the dump area so that trucks must back up a slight grade.
- Get out of your equipment and inspect the work area before performing your job.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (pdf).