(Accident occurred on February 23, 2017 and victim died on April 6, 2017)

Based on a review conducted by MSHA’s Chargeability Review Committee, MSHA determined that this death was unrelated to mine related work activities, mining activities, or mining equipment, and should not be charged to the mining industry. Therefore the total coal fatalities in 2016 are eight instead of nine. On September 23, 2016, a miner was fatally injured in a vehicle accident while a passenger in a coworker’s personally owned vehicle. The miner and his co-worker had concluded their shifts at the mine, changed clothes and were in the vehicle heading away from the mine. They were on the mine’s access road when the coworker lost control of the vehicle after the brakes malfunctioned; the vehicle impacted the berm and rolled over. No hazards or violations associated with the condition or maintenance of the access road were found.