Falling Sliding Material

MNM Fatality – 7/28/21

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On July 28, 2021, a 42 year old ledge foreman with 12 years 7 weeks experience* was standing on a rock ledge at a mine with 8 employees in Elberton, GA* to extract dimensional stone when a triangular section of the rock broke off, causing the miner to fall approximately 35 feet.

Best Practices: 

  • Use fall protection when a potential fall hazard exists.  Ensure fall protection has a suitable fall arrest and secure anchorage system.
  • Examine working places to identify loose ground or unstable conditions before work begins, after blasting, and as changing ground conditions warrant.  Ensure examiners have adequate training and experience to recognize potential hazards.
  • Assess risks and control hazards before beginning work activities.  Remain a safe distance from cracks and any sign of unstable ground conditions.
  • Assure a safe means of access is provided and maintained to all working places.  Use personnel lifts and ladders, as required.
  • Train miners and ensure they perform work safely, use tools properly, and utilize personal protective equipment correctly.

Additional Information: 

This is the 21st fatality reported in 2021, and the first classified as “Falling, Rolling, or Sliding Rock or Material of Any Kind.” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data.)

Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

MNM Fatality – 8/18/20

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On August 18, 2020, a miner (21 year-old laborer in California with one year and twelve weeks of experience*) was killed while attempting to clear a material blockage (at a sand and gravel mine with 20 employees*). The miner entered the cone crusher to begin work when the material shifted and engulfed him.  He was extracted from the crusher and taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.

Best Practices: 

  • Properly design chutes and crushers to prevent blockages. Install a heavy screen (grizzly) to control the size of material and prevent clogging.
  • Equip chutes with mechanical devices such as vibrating shakers or air cannons to loosen blockages, or provide other effective means of handling material, so miners are not exposed to entrapment hazards by falling or sliding material.
  • Establish and discuss policies and procedures for safely clearing crushers.
  • Train miners to recognize and safely remove all potential hazards before beginning work and when clearing blocked crushers.

Additional Information: 

This is the 13th fatality reported in 2020, and the second classified as “Fall of Material.”  – * (Italicized details added by safeminers.com)

Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

MNM Fatality – 6/19/20

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On June 19, 2020, a miner died while inspecting a stockpile for oversized material. As the victim walked along the toe of the stockpile, a portion of the stockpile collapsed, covering him with approximately four feet of material.

Best Practices: 

  • Establish and discuss safe work procedures before beginning work. Identify and control all hazards associated with the work to be performed and the methods to properly protect persons.
  • Task train everyone to recognize potential hazardous conditions that can decrease bank or slope stability and ensure they understand safe job procedures for eliminating hazards.
  • Stay clear of potentially unstable areas. Barricade the toe area to prevent access where hazards have not been corrected.
  • Oversteepened slopes may be flattened from the top of the stockpile by using a bulldozer to gradually cut down the slope.

Additional Information: 

This is the 10th fatality reported in 2020, and the first classified as “Falling, Rolling, or Sliding Rock or Material of Any Kind.”

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

Fatality #11 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2018

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On October 11, 2018, a 26-year old miner with 48 weeks of experience at the mine was fatally injured as a result of falling from on top of a previously cut block of granite.  The victim was in the process of separating the cut block of granite from the highwall when the cut block suddenly slid out.  The movement caused the miner, who was not wearing fall protection, to lose his balance and fall between the rock and the highwall causing fatal injuries.

Best Practices

  • Install fall protection systems that allow safe movement to perform work.
  • Always conduct examinations of working places in order to identify loose ground or unstable conditions before work begins and as changing ground conditions warrant.
  • Ensure that the person conducting the examination has the training and experience to recognize potential hazards.
  • Discuss work procedures and identify all hazards associated with working near highwalls along with the methods to protect personnel.
  • Do not place yourself in a position that will expose you to hazards while performing work tasks.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

Fatality #9 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2017

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On September 20, 2017, a contractor was fatally injured while rappelling within a conditioning tower.  The victim was examining the inside of a 300’ vertical conditioning tower when an object fell from above and struck him in the head. The victim was conscious and transported to a local hospital where he died of his injuries the next day.

Best Practices

  • Remove all loose materials and other hazards before working.
  • Have fall protection and available and ready for use.
  • Check bin atmosphere for oxygen content, combustible gases, and toxic contaminants.
  • Provide adequate lighting.
  • Be sure the person entering the bin is trained in safe entry and confined space procedures.
  • Have standby personnel available to observe and to assist in an emergency.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

Fatality #11 for Coal Mining 2017

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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.

Best Practices

  • Securely block equipment and components against hazardous motion at all times while performing work.
  • Ensure that blocking material is competent, substantial, and adequate to support the load.
  • Require all persons to be positioned where they will not be exposed to hazards.  Do not work in pinch points where inadvertent movement could cause injury.
  • Before beginning work, analyze all tasks, establish safe work procedures, train miners, and eliminate hazards.  Be alert for hazards that may be created while the work is being performed.
  • Monitor all persons to ensure safe work procedures, including safe work positioning, are followed.
  • When possible, do not allow miners to work alone.  If a miner works alone, establish a routine of checking on them.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf)

Fatality #6 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2017

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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.

Best Practices

  • Always conduct examinations of work place to identify loose ground or unstable conditions before work begins and as changing ground conditions warrant.
  • Ensure that the person conducting the examination has the training and experience to recognize potential hazards.
  • Danger off hazardous conditions and prohibit work or travel in areas where hazards from unstable ground have not been corrected.
  • Discuss work procedures and identify all hazards associated with the work to be performed along with the methods to protect personnel.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

Fatality #2 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2017

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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.

Best Practices

  • Conduct pre-operational checks to identify any defects that may affect the safe operation of equipment before it is placed into service.
  • Ensure workers who operate heavy equipment are adequately informed, instructed, trained and supervised.
  • Do not position yourself near a truck that is actively dumping, or near a truck while it is raising its bed.
  • Ensure that the tailgate is unlocked before elevating the cargo box to the dump position.
  • Do not attempt to dump the material if it sticks in the bed.  Stuck material can imbalance the load and affect the stability of the truck. Always deflate trailer air springs prior to raising the dump body.

Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).

Fatality #15 for Metal/Nonmetal Mining 2016

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On December 19, 2016, a 62-year old Front-end Loader Operator with 6 years of mining experience was fatally injured at a sand and gravel surface mine. The victim was engulfed by sand when entered a hopper to remove a blockage.

Best Practices

  • Task train persons to recognize all potential hazardous conditions and to understand safe job procedures for elimination of the hazards before beginning work.
  • Train miners in safe work procedures and hazard recognition, specifically when clearing blocked hoppers.
  • Ensure employees use proper housekeeping procedures in order to avoid extraneous trash from inadvertently entering feed hoppers.
  • Establish and discuss policies and procedures for safely clearing hoppers.
  • Equip hoppers with mechanical devices, grates/grizzlies or other effective means of handling material so persons are not required to work where they are exposed to entrapment by sliding material.
  • Before working on or near equipment, ensure that the discharge operating controls are deenergized and locked out and ensure that material cannot discharge when the feeder is not activated.
  • Wear a safety harness and lanyard, which is securely anchored and tended by another person, prior to entering bins, hoppers, tanks, or silos.

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