Accident Report: Fatality Reference
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COAL MINE FATALITY - On Monday, June 4, 2018, a 43-year-old miner with 10 years of mining experience, was fatally injured when a roof jack struck him in the head. At the time of the accident, the miner was a passenger in a personnel carrier that traveled over the roof jack, which was lying in the roadway at the time. As a result of being hit, the roof jack was propelled into the passenger’s compartment, striking the victim. The victim was flown to a hospital where he died from his injuries.
Best Practices
- Conduct thorough examinations of roadways and remove material that may pose a hazard to equipment operators, passengers, or other miners.
- Maintain roadways free of excessive water, mud, and other conditions which have an impact on an equipment operator’s ability to control mobile equipment.
- Establish safe operating procedures for mobile equipment and a maintenance schedule for roadways.
- Secure loads being hauled to prevent them from falling off haulage vehicles.
- Ensure each item being hauled reaches the intended destination.
- If items are lost during transport, immediately search for them and warn other mobile equipment operators.
Additional Information
This is the fifth fatality reported in calendar year 2018 in the coal mining industry and it is the third classified as Powered Haulage. As of this date in 2017, seven fatalities were reported in the coal mining industry, with four in this classification.