On Monday, June 4, 2018, a 43-year-old miner with 10 years of mining experience, was fatally injured when a roof jack struck him in the head. At the time of the accident, the miner was a passenger in a personnel carrier that traveled over the roof jack, which was lying in the roadway at the time. As a result of being hit, the roof jack was propelled into the passenger’s compartment, striking the victim. The victim was flown to a hospital where he died from his injuries.
Best Practices:
- Conduct thorough examinations of roadways and remove material that may pose a hazard to equipment operators, passengers, or other miners.
- Maintain roadways free of excessive water, mud, and other conditions which have an impact on an equipment operator’s ability to control mobile equipment.
- Establish safe operating procedures for mobile equipment and a maintenance schedule for roadways.
- Secure loads being hauled to prevent them from falling off haulage vehicles.
- Ensure each item being hauled reaches the intended destination.
- If items are lost during transport, immediately search for them and warn other mobile equipment operators.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).