Laborer

EE was fatally injured while performing the standard practice of scaling loose material using a mechanical scaler. Loose material fell from the back contacting the scaler and employee.

Texto original en inglés de la MSHA

On January 21, 2015, John D. Hoodenpyle, Mechanical Scaler, age 54, was killed when a section of rock fell from the back/roof, collapsing the protective structure on a scaling machine. Hoodenpyle was operating a mechanical scaler (scaler) in the RC3PO Northeast drift when approximately 175 tons of material fell, covering the machine. The accident occurred due to management’s failure to identify hazardous ground conditions and to design and install an adequate support system that controlled the ground in the RC3PO Northeast area, where persons worked or traveled in performing their assigned tasks. Management did not ensure that miners scaled the roof from a safe location.

1. Management failed to establish policies and procedures for identifying hazardous ground conditions. Prior to the accident, miners were not required to drill test holes at each intersection in order to identify adverse ground conditions.

   Acción correctiva: Management established new policies and procedures for identifying hazardous ground conditions and trained miners to drill test holes at the beginning of each drilling cycle to identify any separation in the roof strata. The test holes are required to be drilled, as near to vertical as possible, and shall extend no less than one foot longer than the support installed. The hole will be visibly marked/ identified and the results of the examination will be recorded on the workplace examination record.

2. Management failed to design and install adequate support to control the roof in the disrupted bedding of the brecciated zone of the back (roof) in the RC3PO Northeast area where persons worked or traveled in performing their assigned tasks.

   Acción correctiva: Management established new policies and procedures requiring test holes to be drilled at the beginning of each drilling cycle to identify any separation in the roof strata. The test holes are required to be drilled, as near to vertical as possible, and shall extend no less than one foot longer than the support installed. The hole will be visibly marked/ identified and the results of the examination will be recorded on the workplace examination record.

3. Management failed to ensure that miners performed scaling operations from a safe location that would not expose them to falling material.

   Acción correctiva: Management established a new procedure that requires scaling operations to be conducted from a safe location that does not expose miners to falling material. The new roof control procedures requiring limited distances for unbolted areas will ensure a safe location for scaling operations. Miners were trained in this new procedure.

Hallazgos del informe final de investigación de la MSHA, que sustituye la narrativa preliminar anterior.

Actividad al momento del incidente

Underground Equipment, Nec

Subunidad / ubicación

UNDERGROUND

Ubicación subterránea

SLOPE/INCLINED SHAFT

Método de minería

Conventional Stoping

Tipo de accidente

Golpeado por objeto que cae

Fuente de la lesión

CAVING ROCK,COAL,ORE,WSTE

Naturaleza de la lesión

MULTIPLE INJURIES

Parte del cuerpo afectada

MULTIPLE PARTS (MORE THAN ONE MAJOR)

Experiencia minera total

4 years

Experiencia en esta mina

4 years

Experiencia en este puesto

2 years

Grado de la lesión

FATALITY