On Feb. 22, 2021, a 26-year-old underground chute puller was fatally injured as a passenger of a rail-mounted locomotive when he was crushed between the deck of the locomotive and an overhead chute at a lead-zinc ore underground mine with 114 employees in Strawberry Plains, TN*.
Best Practices:
- Install controls such as rail stops at loading points, crossings, etc., where track equipment must stop.
- Install reflective signs or warning lights well in advance of low clearance areas to alert miners of the upcoming hazard.
- Develop safe working procedures to avoid low clearance and pinch point areas. Monitor workers to ensure these procedures are followed.
- Always look in the direction the equipment is moving in, and keep all body parts within the operator’s compartment while a vehicle is moving.
- Conduct proper travelway examinations to identify and mitigate the hazards presented by low clearances.
- Train all workers to recognize potential hazards and understand safe job procedures and tasks to eliminate hazards before beginning work.
Additional Information:
This is the 4th fatality reported in 2021, and the third classified as “Powered Haulage.” *(details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), final report (pdf).