Fatality #18 - October 9, 2008

Ronald W. Keen, welder, age 56, was fatally injured on October 9, 2008. Keen and another miner were disassembling a tool rack in preparation to move it to a new truck shop. Three steel plates had been removed from the front section of the tool rack, placed on the shop floor and leaned against the tool rack. The weight of the detached plates caused the tool rack to rotate, slide, and topple onto the victim and the other miner, who was hospitalized and later released. 



The accident occurred because management failed to establish procedures to ensure that persons could safely disassemble the tool rack. A risk assessment to discuss the task with the miners and identify possible hazards was not conducted prior to performing the task. The steel plates were positioned in a manner which created a fall of material hazard.