Fatality #4 - March 6, 2009

On Friday, March 6, 2009, Stanley Freeman, Dragline Oiler, age 44, received fatal crushing injuries while the dragline was walking from the northwest to the southeast end of the dragline bench, designated as the N area, located at the Dolet Hills Lignite Company mine. Freeman, who had just completed manually adding grease to the slide/cam mechanism on the left walking shoe, was last seen standing on the shoe walkway, apparently waiting to board the dragline house. He was later found approximately 10 feet from this location, crushed between the top of the walking shoe and the bottom of the dragline house. A minimum clearance of approximately 7 inches existed at this location. There were no witnesses to the accident. 



The accident occurred due to management allowing the dragline oiler to get on and off the dragline house while the dragline operated, exposing the oiler to the hazards of the dragline's operation. Freeman was not visible to the dragline operator or able to communicate directly with him. Failure to provide an adequate means of communication between the oiler and dragline operator contributed to the cause of the accident in that the oiler was not able to notify the dragline operator of his intention to board the dragline house. The necessity to manually apply additional grease to the slide/cam mechanism during the dragline walking process required the oiler to travel onto the walking shoe during operation, thus exposing him to the dragline's movement and also contributing to the cause of the accident.