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).
On Thursday, September 28, 2017, a 39-year-old miner with ten years of mining experience received fatal injuries when coal from the longwall face rolled out and completely covered him. The victim was assisting with roof bolting by untangling the mesh during the longwall recovery process. At the time of the accident, the victim was located between the coal face and the pan line.
On February 23, 2017, a 62-year-old section foreman was seriously injured by falling roof rock in the No. 3 entry of the active working section. The rock fell from between roof bolts and was approximately 3 feet by 2 feet by 3 to 4 inches thick. First-aid was administered and the injured miner was transported to a medical center. Due to medical complications from the injuries he sustained, the victim died on April 6, 2017.
On January 25, 2017, a miner was found in an underground limestone mine after failing to exit the mine at the end of the shift. The miner was located under material that had fallen from the rib in an area of the mine that had been barricaded to prevent entry due to bad roof and rib conditions.
