A serious statistic from MSHA: Safety Information Recently Posted – Metal/Nonmetal October Fatal Alert
During
the last 10 years Metal and Nonmetal mines have experienced more fatal
accidents in the month of October than in any other month. Work
with MSHA to prevent more fatalities by focusing on working safely. Spread the word at your workplace with the following flyer that they provided.
Click here for the pdf of the October Alert and post it around your workplace.
On September 15, 2009, a 59 year-old delivery driver with 14 years of experience was fatally injured at a sand and gravel operation. She parked off mine property and walked on site to deliver a package. The victim walked behind a front-end loader that backed over her.
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)
On August 27, 2009, a 54 year-old contract truck driver with 33 years
of experience was fatally injured at a lime operation. The victim,
wearing a fall protection harness and an attached lanyard, was found
partially suspended on the top of a bulk trailer. He had been working
on top of the trailer, closing hatch covers, when the incident
occurred.
On May 11, 2010 MSHA’s Fatality Review Committee made a determination that this fatality is not chargeable.
Do you like numbers? Then you'll love perusing this report. Lots and lots of numbers giving you the final fatalities and injuries in mining. There are breakdowns by industry, work location, State, accident classification and more. Need injury-incidence rates for contractors? This report has got them. Just click here to open/download this pdf file from MSHA.
On July 2, 2009, a 52-year old mine owner with 34 years of experience was fatally injured at a surface dimension stone operation. He was working alone and was operating a walk behind masonry saw on a ledge. Apparently he was positioned between the saw and the edge when he tripped and fell. The victim and the saw went over the 9-foot ledge and the saw fell on him.
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)
On June 20, 2009, a 52-year old equipment oiler/greaser with 24 years of experience was fatally injured at an underground salt mine. He was cleaning equipment when a large roof fall occurred.
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)
On June 11, 2009, a 57-year old mechanic with 31 years of experience was fatally injured at an underground lead/zinc mine while checking for a hydraulic leak on a loader. The victim leaned into the ejector plate relief port in the back of the loader bucket. The ejector plate of the bucket was retracted, crushing him against the back of the bucket.
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)
On June 6, 2009, a 57-year old surface driller with 27 years of experience was fatally injured at a surface gold mine. The victim was drilling in a pit, exited the drill, and was walking in the drill area when he was struck by a flatbed truck as it backed up. The truck was in the area to collect drill cutting sample bags.
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)
After posting the most recent fatality I had an AHA! moment. If I posted all the fatalities and tag them with some basic labels like type of mine, equipment, etc. I would end up with a database that is easily searchable for not only fatalities, but other important relative information. For example, click on loader in the tag section and it will show you all posts with loader fatalities along with other information posted about loaders. Neat, huh?
So I'm going to continue to post fatalities. In fact, I'm going to go back and add the previous fatalgrams as I get time here. I'll post new ones as soon as I can after the fatalgram is posted. Then I'll go back and add the link to the investigation when that is posted as well. Of course it will all be even better if you add your comments. So go ahead. Comment.
On May 2, 2009, a 51-year old front-end loader operator with 8 weeks of experience was fatally injured at a surface clay operation. The victim parked a front-end loader on a loading ramp and was run over by the machine after he exited it.
Best Practices
Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (powerpoint), Overview (pdf)