On July 27, 2017, a miner was fatally injured when his light-duty truck was run over by a haul truck. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Best Practices
- Do not park smaller vehicles in a large truck’s potential path of movement.• Before moving mobile equipment, be certain no one is in the intended path; sound the horn to warn possible unseen persons; and wait to give them time to move to a safe location.
- Ensure all persons are trained to recognize workplace hazards – specifically, the limited visibility and blind areas inherent to operation of large equipment and the hazard of mobile equipment traveling near them.
- Establish procedures that require smaller vehicles to maintain a safe distance from large mobile equipment until eye contact is made or approval to move closer is obtained from the mobile equipment operator. Provide training on these procedures.
- Install cameras and collision avoidance systems on large trucks to protect persons.
- Regularly monitor work practices and reinforce their importance. Take immediate action to correct unsafe conditions or work practices.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).
On August 3, 2017, a 32-year-old miner with 6 years of mining experience was fatally crushed while he was cutting one end of a metal beam. He was dismantling a metal structure at a preparation plant when the beam fell on him.
On July 20, 2017, a miner was driving wedges into a block of granite in an attempt to break it loose. A piece of granite weighing 9 tons fell and crushed the victim against the quarry floor.
On July 25, 2017, a 28-year-old bulldozer operator with 1 year and 9 months of mining experience was fatally injured at a surface facility. The victim was operating a bulldozer, pushing material off of a refuse bank before the accident occurred. He was found lying in the bulldozer’s push path at the top of an incline near the edge of the refuse bank. The bulldozer had run over the victim and continued over the edge of the incline, coming to rest at the bottom of the embankment.
On July 14, 2017, a part time mine employee was moving irrigation pipe by hand and was electrocuted when the pipe came in contact with high voltage transmission lines overhead.
On June 8, 2017, a truck driver was operating a Caterpillar 777F haul truck, dumping a load of gravel, when the ground at the dump point collapsed. The truck went over the edge of the dump point, overturning and landing on its roof approximately 30 feet below. The victim was transported to the hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
On March 24, 2017, the victim exited his personal flatbed truck, which was left running in 6th gear, to turn off the genset (diesel generator). Prior to ascending the steps to the diesel generator, it appears the flatbed truck moved forward and pinned him against the genset trailer. The victim was found on Monday, March 27, 2017, and pronounced dead at the scene.
On Saturday, May 6, 2017, a 62-year-old miner with 14 years of mining experience was fatally injured when the haul truck he was operating went over the highwall and fell approximately 150 feet. The victim was dumping overburden over the highwall when the accident occurred.
On March 14, 2017, an independent owner/operator truck driver, walked behind his raised end-dump trailer, while dumping his load and was engulfed by sand.
On Wednesday, March 30, 2017, at 2:09 am, a 33-year-old miner (auger operator/foreman) was fatally injured at a surface auger mine. The miner was struck by a rock that fell from the bottom section of the highwall while changing worn cutter-head bits located at the front of the auger machine. The rock was approximately 4 feet by 5 feet by 30 inches in size.