On Thursday, January 26, 2017, a 42-year-old miner with 23 years of mining experience was fatally injured when he contacted a moving drive roller for the section belt. The victim was positioned between the guard and the conveyor belt drive when he came in contact with the shaft of the belt drive roller.
- Before working on equipment, de-energize electrical power, lock and tag the visual disconnect with your lock and tag, and block parts that can move against motion.
- Keep guards securely in place while working around conveyor drives.
- When working around moving machine parts, avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing such as shirts or jackets with hoods. Secure ends of sleeves and pant legs, as well as loose items such as personal light cords.
- Guard shaft ends such as protruding bolts, keyways or couplings.
- Establish policies and procedures for conducting specific tasks on belt conveyors.
- Train all employees thoroughly on the dangers of working or traveling around moving conveyor belts and their associated components,
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).
On December 21, 2016, a 39-year old contract truck driver, with 11 months of mining experience, was injured on the surface of an underground gold mine. The victim was hauling gold ore in an over-the-road truck from the mine to the plant. While descending the roadway from the mine, the victim lost control of his truck. He traveled up an embankment and over an approximate 20 foot drop, landing back in the roadway. The victim was transported to the hospital and died from his injuries several days later.
On September 8, 2016, a 58-year old Haul Truck Operator with 23 years of experience was killed at a granite mine. The victim was operating a Caterpillar 773E haul truck and was returning to the pit to be loaded with shot rock. The truck veered from the right side of the haul road to the left and traveled over the berm at the top of the highwall. The truck landed upside down approximately 150 feet below. The victim was found outside the haul truck.
On Friday, September 23, 2016, a 46-year-old miner was fatally injured in a vehicle accident that occurred along a portion of a mine’s access/haul road. The victim (passenger) and a coworker (driver) were traveling down an inclined portion of the road when the driver apparently lost control of the pickup truck, causing it to strike the road berm and roll over in the roadway.
On Monday, May 16, 2016, a 50-year-old motorman, with over 14 years of mining experience, was fatally injured when the diesel locomotive he was operating crashed through a closed airlock door. The diesel locomotive was pulling six drop deck cars and had stopped to allow another motorman operating a trailing locomotive to separate the cars to provide the clearance needed to pass through the airlock. As the other motorman was preparing to couple his locomotive to the cars, the train unexpectedly moved forward and continued away from him towards the slope bottom where it crashed through the closed outby airlock door.
On June 27, 2016, a 61-year old Mine Superintendent, with 24 years of experience, was killed at a limestone quarry. The victim was building a ramp to the lower bench, was positioning his haul truck to dump a load of material near the edge of a highwall, and rolled backwards over the 90 foot highwall.
On March 8, 2016, a 54-year old miner with 5 years of mining experience was killed at a surface sand and gravel operation. The miner backed his haul truck over a dump site and the driver was found at the bottom of the embankment, 60 feet below. The victim was found unresponsive and partially submerged in water. CPR was attempted, but the victim was not able to be resuscitated.
On Monday, January 4, 2016, a 53 year-old belt foreman/fireboss with 34 years of mining experience was fatally injured when he came in contact with a moving underground belt conveyor. The victim was preparing to change out a hold up roller when he was caught by the moving belt and pulled into the roller.
On December 28, 2015, a 42-year old miner with 3 years of experience was killed at a surface gold mine. The operator of a loaded haul truck was attempting to have his truck climb a snow covered access road when his truck slid backwards striking the cab of the victim’s loaded haul truck, which was also recovering from sliding backwards down the same access road. Several minutes later, a third loaded haul truck also slid down backwards while attempting to climb the access road, colliding with the other wrecked haul trucks.