On December 14, 2020, two miners (age 27 & 41 with 22 weeks & 27 weeks experience*) died when a back failure occurred in a large four-way intersection (at a mine in Avery Island, LA with 200 employees*). The miners were pumping sealing grout in the intersection when blocks of salt and anhydrite fell from beneath a slickenside onto the miners.
Best Practices:
- In areas of excessive span or adverse geology:
- Install supplemental ground support to control strata movement.
- Install sag monitors or extensometers to detect ground movement or strata separation.
- Drill and evaluate test holes for strata separation using a borescope or scratch test.
- Use geologic hazard mapping to identify adverse conditions.
- Be alert to any change of ground conditions.
- Report hazardous or abnormal conditions.
- Perform thorough workplace examinations where miners work or travel.
- Identify and scale hazardous ground conditions from a safe location.
- Train miners to recognize hazards and follow safe work practices, especially before they perform new tasks.
Additional Information:
These are the 27th and 28th fatalities reported in 2020, and the second and third classified as “Fall of Roof or Back.” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).