Surface

Fatality #7 for Coal Mining 2012

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On Wednesday, April 25, 2012, a 61-year-old demolition contractor with approximately 20 years of experience was killed from injuries received while dismantling a conveyor stacker belt from the surface area of an inactive underground coal mine. The victim had completed the final torch cut on an elevated, inclined stacker frame support beam containing the counter-weight, when the structure fell. The structure contacted the walkway (catwalk) where the victim was located. This section of the walkway, approximately 25 feet long, broke loose from the main structure, causing the victim to fall approximately 27 feet.

Best Practices

  • Establish safe work procedures, which include incorporating the manufacturer’s recommendations, to assure that workers are not exposed to hazards when performing maintenance, repairs, or demolition activity.
  • Prior to beginning work, ensure that all workers are trained in safe work procedures.
  • Examine work areas during the shift for hazards that may be created as a result of the work being performed.
  • Before starting any work, clear the area of tripping and stumbling hazards.
  • Provide and maintain safe access to all work areas.
  • Secure structures against unexpected movement when performing demolition work.
  • Use appropriate fall protection where there is a danger of falling.
  • Stay focused on your work for your own safety and the safety of your fellow workers.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf),  MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #5 for Coal Mining 2012

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On Saturday, March 17, 2012, a 55-year-old surface foreman with 19 years of mining experience was killed when he was caught between the frame of a highwall miner transportation dolly and a front-end loader with a duck bill attachment.

Best Practices

  • Never position yourself between equipment in motion and a stationary object. Always be aware of your location in relation to machine parts that have the ability to move.
  • Ensure mobile equipment operators are aware of your location at all times.
  • Maintain communication with mobile equipment operators when working in confined areas. Ensure that line of sight, background noise, or other conditions do not interfere with communication.
  • Ensure miners are adequately trained for the task they are performing.
  • Use a tow bar with adequate length and proper rating when towing heavy equipment.
  • Make yourself more visible by wearing brightly-colored clothing or clothing that is distinguishable from surroundings.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf),  MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #3 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2012

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On February 22, 2012, a 46 year-old plant mechanic with 7 years of experience was injured at a crushed stone operation when he fell 16 feet from an elevated walkway of a conveyor to the ground below. The victim and a coworker had been bolting a snub pulley in position. The coworker was positioned on a walkway on the other side of the belt. The victim was hospitalized and died on February 26, 2012.

Best Practices 

  • Establish and discuss safe work procedures. Before starting any work, identify and control all hazards.
  • Train all persons to recognize and understand safe job procedures, including the proper use of fall protection.
  • Always use fall protection when working where a fall hazard exists.
  • Install railings or cables when persons are required to work or travel near the edge of a structure.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (powerpoint), Overview (pdf).

Fatality #2 for Coal Mining 2012

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On Sunday, February 26, 2012, at 1:15 a.m., a 52-year-old deckhand with 4 years of mining experience was determined missing. He had been assigned the task of measuring the draft of a set of empty barges that were to be loaded. He had to cross from the dock to the first empty barge. Witnesses observed him on the empty barge walking up-river on the barge. He apparently fell from the barge into the water. Co-workers saw his cap in the water and immediately called for the rescue squad. The victim was found beneath the bow of the dock at approximately 2:30 a.m. The miner was wearing a flotation device, but the flotation device was not designed to keep an unconscious miner’s face above water.

Best Practices

  • Utilize electronic devices to determine the draft in barges.
  • Install and use lifeline tie-off systems to provide fall protection over water.
  • Utilize and maintain sufficient area lighting and personal lighting.
  • Set up a look out and communications protocol. Do not work alone.
  • Ensure safe access is provided where persons are required to work or travel. Watch footing and stay clear of ropes, cables, and other obstacles. Use de-icing material to clear ice from walkways. Maintain three points of contact where practicable.
  • Wear properly fitted personal flotation devices (PFD) that are designed to keep an unconscious miner’s face above water.
  • Utilize wearable electronic emergency warning systems to immediately notify others of a fall into water. These devices can be equipped with water activated strobe lights and global positioning system (GPS) tracking.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf),  MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #23 for Coal Mining 2011

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On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at approximately 7:30 a.m., a 49-year-old excavator operator, with 20 years of mining experience, was fatally injured when a highwall he was working near collapsed. The excavator was being used to load rock trucks. The operator’s cab was positioned on the highwall side when the accident occurred.

Best Practices

  • Operate excavators with the cab perpendicular to, and away from, the highwall.
  • Design benches to safely accommodate the type of equipment used and include this in the Ground Control Plan.
  • Examine highwalls from as many perspectives as possible (bottom, sides, and top/crest) while maintaining the safety of the examiner(s). Look for signs of cracking or other geologic discontinuities.
  • Use auxiliary lighting during non-daylight hours to conduct highwall examinations and to illuminate active work areas.
  • Perform supplemental examinations of highwalls, banks, benches, and sloping terrain in the working area during inclement weather.
  • Immediately remove all personnel exposed to hazardous ground conditions, barricade, and/or post signs to prevent entry, and promptly correct the unsafe conditions.
  • Brief foremen and miners coming to work on any uncorrected hazardous conditions, and ensure the hazardous conditions are noted in the on-shift examination record book.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #1 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2012

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On January 27, 2012, a 69 year-old mobile equipment operator with 48 years of experience was killed at a cement operation. The victim was cleaning a tailpiece with a skid steer loader. He backed the loader in a drainage ditch, traveled in reverse about 150 feet, and went into a 5½-foot deep water hole.

Best Practices

  • Ensure that persons are task trained and understand the hazards associated with the work being performed.
  • Equipment operators should be familiar with their working environment at all times.
  • Ensure that safety precautions are taken based on different weather and lighting conditions.
  • Keep mobile equipment a safe distance from the edge of water or embankments.
  • Barricade or post warning signs at all approaches in areas where health or safety hazards exist that are not immediately obvious to all persons. Warning signs shall be readily visible, legible, and display the nature of the hazard and any protective action required.
  • Provide and maintain berms or guardrails on the banks of roadways where a drop-off exists of sufficient grade or depth to cause a vehicle to overturn or endanger persons in equipment.
  • Monitor personnel’s work activities routinely to determine that safe work procedures are followed.
  • Operate equipment in a manner that maximizes visibility. Use a spotter when visibility of the work or travel areas is limited.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (powerpoint), Overview (pdf).

Fatality #22 for Coal Mining 2011

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On Saturday, December 3, 2011, at approximately 8:35 a.m., a bulldozer operator with 18 years of mining experience was seriously injured when the bulldozer he was operating travelled over a highwall and fell approximately 90 feet to the pit below. The victim was in the process of clearing topsoil from the bench in preparation for the next blast. The victim was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the bulldozer. The victim died on December 6, 2011, from the injuries sustained in this accident.

Best Practices

  • Ensure the ground control plan is adequate for the mining conditions.
  • Perform examinations of ground conditions, and perform additional checks during the work shift to ensure ground conditions have not changed.
  • Mark the limits of travel with pylons or reflectors.
  • Be aware of your location and proximity to the highwall. When operating a bulldozer close to an edge, always keep the blade between you and the edge. Bulldozer operators should not operate their machines parallel to the edge of highwalls.
  • Use a spotter to warn equipment operators when they approach the edge of a highwall.
  • Ensure seat belts are provided, maintained, and worn at all times.
  • Never jump out of equipment.
  • Visit MSHA’s Safety Target Single Source Page for additional safety information concerning bulldozers.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf),  MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #16 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2011

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On December 15, 2011, a 22 year-old laborer with 3 months of experience was killed at a surface stone operation. The victim, who was last seen on a control tower, fell into an operating jaw crusher.

Best Practices
 

  • Always use fall protection when working where a fall hazard exists.
  • Establish policies and procedures for safely clearing plugged material in a jaw crusher.
  • Ensure that persons are task trained and understand the hazards associated with the work being performed.
  • Deenergize and Lock-out/tag-out all power sources before working on crushers.
  • Do not place yourself in a position that will expose you to hazards.
  • Monitor personnel routinely to determine that safe work procedures are followed.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (powerpoint), Overview (pdf).

Fatality #21 for Coal Mining 2011

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On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, a 28 year old bulldozer operator, with approximately 8 years of mining experience, was injured at a surface mine. The victim was conducting reclamation work on top of a graded slope when he lost control of the bulldozer and it rolled over several times, approximately 250 feet to the bottom of the slope. The operator was wearing a seat belt, but sustained serious injuries. He was hospitalized and died subsequently on November 14, 2011.

Best Practices

  • Task train miners adequately on the equipment they will operate.
  • Train all employees on proper equipment operation procedures, hazard recognition, and hazard avoidance.
  • Establish and follow safe work procedures and ensure that personnel are trained to recognize hazardous work procedures or activity.
  • Be familiar with your work environment. Before you start grading an area, look at it, walk around it, and plan the safest way to move the material and maneuver the equipment.
  • Install tilt gauges in dozers and do not exceed the equipment’s maximum operating angles.
  • Maintain control of equipment at all times during operation.
  • Ensure that personnel operating mobile equipment always wear seat belts.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).

Fatality #18 & #19 for Coal Mining 2011

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On Friday, October 28, 2011, a 47-year old lead blaster and 23-year old blaster helper were killed when the 1-ton truck they were riding was struck and completely covered by fallen rock from a failed highwall. The victims were driving in the pit, past a trackhoe loading coal as they approached their work area. The rock reached approximately 80′ across the 100′ wide pit and struck the trackhoe and a haulage vehicle being loaded at the time of the accident.

Best Practices

  • Train all miners to recognize hazardous highwall conditions.
  • Look, Listen and Evaluate your highwall and pit conditions daily, especially after each rain, freeze, or thaw.
  • Be your own examiner and find hazards before they find you.
  • Maintain adequate lighting to aid in examinations of highwalls and pit during no light or low light situations.
  • Observe and communicate highwall hazards immediately.
  • Insure appropriate action is taken to remove the hazards associated with any anomaly that may appear in the highwall or pit.
  • Ensure that personnel’s work or travel areas and mining systems or equipment are operating are a safe distance from the toe of the highwall.
  • Follow safe job procedures.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf).