US mining fatalities in 2006

While traveling underground toward section, employees noticed top breaking and dripping and could not get stopped in time to avoid roof fall. Equip. operator stopped ride & started backing up when fall occurred, striking employee. #2 Main Intake 18 Bl., inby spad #34.

Frozen dig face material sloughed from the dig face of 750-28 bench, striking employee and pining him to the ground.

The Haul Truck operator that had called in a problem with his park brake was found shortly thereafter pinned under his left rear tires. He had sustained fatal crushing injuries.

Employee was in the process of moving a stacking conveyor, hooking chains to the axle frame to be connected to a loader. Conveyor buckled in half landing on him in his attempt to run from the falling conveyor.

The electrician was in the process of trouble shooting an electrical problem in the line of power feeding the 8200 Dragline. At the time of the accident the victim was in the KM-12 junction box when he contacted live electrical components resulting in fatal injuries.

Employee was operating a scoop between the #5 & #6 entries on the 001/002 MMU one break inby survey station #1411. He was pulling a shuttle car cable that had been wrapped around the canopy post on the left side of the operating deck. As he was pulling the cable, the rear wheel of the scoop ran over the cable. This caused the cable to unwrap & strike him on the side of his head.

Employee was observing the mechanic working on a shuttle car. It was revealed during the accident investigation, that the mechanic pressed the tram pedal, causing the shuttle car to inadvertently move. The shuttle car crushed the employee between the shuttle car and the rib.

Accident happened when a cut of coal was blasted in breast. From preliminary report: According to the witness, he heard three explosions. Two were normal. The concussion from the third explosion was excessive. The victim was eventually found at the bottom of #19 chute.

The miner operator on the east mains, left section, MMU 007-0, received fatal crushing injuries when portions of the right rib and corner fell unexpectedly. This occurred suddenly while the miner operator was cleaning the second cut in the 5 to 6 crosscut. The rib anomaly was approx 8.5' X 4.5' X 4.5' in the 5 to 6 crosscut and fell pinning operator against shuttle car.

Roof fall occurred in the outby area of the Old No. 8 Section. A rock fell onto the victim, causing injuries to the employee. The rock that fell onto the employee, was in the intersection at Spad 3575, in the old works of the mine.

Electrical explosion.

16 yard Rohr Dredge located in lake on N Hummer Lake Rd in Oxford flipped over (cause unknown at this time). Employee drowned. Employee's body was recovered at 5:35 pm. Incident is under investigation by MSHA inspector Steve Field.

Inverted horse back resulted in fatality. "A fatal roof fall occurred at D&R Coal, Inc. Mine No. 2. The victim was located at the pillar corner in the crosscut between the No 7 and No 8 entry on the 001 MMU, when he was struck by a piece of draw rock approx 6' long X 3' wide X 6-8" thick. Victim was pronounced dead at the scene by the assistant Knox County Coroner."

Worker was preparing to remove a transmission from a machine. The operator's cab had to be removed prior to removal of transmission. Some or all of the fastners holding the cab were removed. Cab tipped pinning worker between cab, lower deck and hand rail.

EE WAS UNDER A DITCHING BUCKET CUTTING A PLATE OUT AND THE PLATE FELL AND LANDED ON HIS CHEST. WITHOUT AN AUTOPSY REPORT COMPLETED YET, THE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS THE IMPACT OF THE STEEL PLATE ON HIS CHEST, LUNGS.

EE was preparing to blacktop the entrance to the shop, when he walked into the path of a payloader that was transporting material from the stock pile. He was run over by the left front tire.

Plywood was covering the manhole inside the kiln. The EE pushed the plywoood forward and walked through the manhole, falling approximately 20'. (The victim died August 21, 2006 as a result of his injuries.)

Employee deliberately disobeyed warnings to cease welding on inflated floatation tire rim ten minutes before tire blew up. Heat from welding plus compression of air in tire equals massive explosion.

Employee of Adams Trucking was weedwacking brush. Blade on weedwacker hit guide wire for electrical pole. The wire was severed and the tension pulled it back toward the transformers on the pole. the guide wire came in contact with a bare wire. At this time we assume electricity went to ground causing fatality. Under Investigation.

A road grader descended down a haul road backwards and landed against the hillside in a ditch. The operator was found under the ripper at the rear of the machine.

Mud seam fell out of highwall, big rock hit cab of drill killing employee.

Extrayendo material en el lado noreste de la charca de extraccion el chofer, no sabemos la razon, hizo un viraje en el lado noroeste de la charca y cayo a la misma con su camion. El chofer fallecio.The victim's truck was loaded with his first load of the shift. He was backing his haul truck out of the extraction area(pit) when truck traveled across a field into a water filled pit.

Jaw area of head/neck was pinched between handrail of manlift and cable tray. Foot was still on deadman switch.

Employee fell from stack cap level to preheat level suffering fatal injuries.

Contractor (electrician) was working in building. It is unknown just what happened. The electrician contacted energized conductors while installing an electrical circuit.

Employee was removing hydraulic line on Volvo loader. He had raised the bucket, remove front cover, taken 3 bolts out of line. The line then blew off then the main boom cylinder came down on top of him pinning him between differential and boom causing accident.

Sand bank gave way.

While tramming outby in the #3 entry, a wood plank, 3" thick x 9" wide x 12' long entered the cab of a Fairchild scoop and fatally injured employee.

WHILE PERFORMING MAINTENANCE ON CONVEYOR BELT EMPLOYEE WAS PINNED BETWEEN WA500 KOMATSU LOADER AND CONVEYOR BELT LINE RESULTING IN HIS DEATH.

EMPLOYEE WAS OPERATING A WATER TRUCK WHEN HE LOST CONTROL OF THE TRUCK AND OVERTURNED. THE ACCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION. THE VICTIM WAS TRAPPED UNDER THE TRUCK. THE VICTIM WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE. THE BODY WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE BREATHITT COUNTY CORONER & THEN TO FRANKFORT FOR AUTOPSY.

Employee (EE) climbed over platform guardrail onto raised forklift carrying screens, EE and screens fell from forklift 15 to 17 ft; EE landed on his feet, knees buckled, he collapsed to the ground & apparently one or more screens fell onto employee's body-trunk area abdomen region. Co-worker & injured worker moved screen(s) off of EE & EE scooted himself away from screens.

On Sat., 5/20/06, at approx., 1AM, an explosion occurred underground at the mine. The explosion occurred during the 3rd shift that is designated as the maintenance shift. The source & causes of explosion are unk at this time. Explosion claimed the lives of 5 of the 6 miners. All the victims have been recovered. The surviving miner was taken to hospital, treated and released.

On Sat., 5/20/06, at approx., 1AM, an explosion occurred underground at the mine. The explosion occurred during the 3rd shift that is designated as the maintenance shift. The source & causes of explosion are unk at this time. Explosion claimed the lives of 5 of the 6 miners. All the victims have been recovered. The surviving miner was taken to hospital, treated and released.

On Sat., 5/20/06, at approx., 1AM, an explosion occurred underground at the mine. The explosion occurred during the 3rd shift that is designated as the maintenance shift. The source & causes of explosion are unk at this time. Explosion claimed the lives of 5 of the 6 miners. All the victims have been recovered. The surviving miner was taken to hospital, treated and released.

On Sat., 5/20/06, at approx., 1AM, an explosion occurred underground at the mine. The explosion occurred during the 3rd shift that is designated as the maintenance shift. The source & causes of explosion are unk at this time. Explosion claimed the lives of 5 of the 6 miners. All the victims have been recovered. The surviving miner was taken to hospital, treated and released.

On Sat., 5/20/06, at approx., 1AM, an explosion occurred underground at the mine. The explosion occurred during the 3rd shift that is designated as the maintenance shift. The source & causes of explosion are unk at this time. Explosion claimed the lives of 5 of the 6 miners. All the victims have been recovered. The surviving miner was taken to hospital, treated and released.

A master electrician was fatally injured while trouble-shooting 460 volt electric motor. (question #26: experience at this mine TWO hours.)

The employee came into contact with a guy wire, which broke loose and came in contact with an energized condutor on the pole. There was no insulator or proper anchor on the guy wire, this caused the employee to be electrocuted.

COWORKER HAD EMPLOYEE ADJUST THE BRACKET ON THE RETURN ROLLER AS HE WAS HITTING THE BRACKET. EMPLOYEE'S ARM GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE ROLLER AND IT SUCKED HIM THROUGH.

Utility operator was preparing to wash out the rail scale. The loader operator was weighing the loader on the scale. The loader operator announced on the radio that he was moving the loader off the scale. He slowly moved forward when he observed the utility operator on the ground. The utility operator apparently fell and was crushed by the front left tire of the loader.

Two men were drilling bottom line when a seam in the next cut back gave way. The piece of stone that broke loose was large enough to crush both men. One man was fatally crushed and the other is in critical condition.

Employee was found pinned between the #4 mobile bridge unit and the section lo-lo conveyor belt structure. He was apparently troubleshooting a report of weak tramming on the left side of the mobile unit. There were no witnesses to the accident.

Employee was walking to his shuttle car when draw rock fell from top pinning lower half of his body underneath. Rock was 20' long, 86" wide, 6.5" thick.

Employee was placing wire around a pallet of stone. He disreguarded the backup alarm of a Case 95XT skid steer loader that was moving in reverse. The employee disreguarded his safety training to yield the right-of-way to moving equipment. As a result, he was struck by the loader and died from his injuries.

Employee received fatal injuries when he became caught in the dolly of a mobile bridge system.

BEAMS AT INTERSECTION FELL DROPPING BEAM ONTO MOTOR CAUSING IT TO ENTER MOTOR DECK WHERE EE WAS SITTING DRIVING MOTOR GOING INTO BODY CAUSING DEATH AFTER A SHORT TIME.

Employee crawled 16 feet under primary and was entangled in tailpulley.

The employee suffered a fatal electrocution injury while engaged in positioning the electrical MCC building. The boom truck became energized when contacting overhead power lines.

While installing roof pins in front of LW shield, piece of rock fell, striking employee and knocking him down. Contusion to back of head, laceration to right hand and fracture to left ankle. The victim was flown by helicopter to the nearest trauma center, where he died on April 10, 2006.

The Jeffrey Locomotive EE was operating struck a longwall support that was loaded on a low boy parked at 66 brk switch on E-1 track. Locomotives were being staged at this location for transport to Submains. Locomotives were advancing one at a time.

Employee was walking up to a stopping that had just been knocked down by a scoop when a piece of rock fell from between bolts and struck him on the back.

3 employees working on elev. platform to remove pitman from Crusher B. Crane owned & operated by contractor had lifted pitman & it was hanging stationary. The men headed for the stairs to descend. Pitman suddenly swung and hit EE, fatally injuring him (cause of death crushing blunt force trauma). 2nd EE was grazed by pitman, but was not injured. 3rd EE uninjured.

Right rib roll in No. 5 entry, No. 4 left mains pinned employee against roof bolting machine.

EE was cropping the clarion level when for unknown reasons he traveled to the top of the ridge and inadvertently contacted a low pressure high volume 16 inch gas line.

The Shearer operators had cut a taper from #40 shield towards the headgate. The headgate drum was just a foot or two from cutting through the headgate when a bounce occurred. The bouce blew coal through the bounce shields striking him

WORKER WAS OPERATING A D6M CAT CRAWLER DOZER AND BACKED OVER HIGHWALL IN MINE INTO WATER-FILLED PIT AND DIED DUE TO DROWNING.

A truck driver loaded the 1984 Ford LT9000 truck, then proceeded down the access road and then for some unknown reason, he got out or left the cab of the truck which therefore led to bodily injury and death (fatality) to himself approximately 100 feet from bottom of hill.

Employee, member of 002 section crew, was evacuating the mine. He became separated from his crew and did not survive mine fire.

Employee, member of 002 section crew, was evacuating the mine. He became separated from his crew and did not survive mine fire.

A 2 to 3 foot drawrock fell from face down and back vertically against miner and bolter trapping the miner under the canopy and against the bolting machine causing a fatality.

Employee was crushed between tire and fuel tank.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

AT 6:31 AM AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED BEHIND THE OLD 2 LEFT MAINS SEALS RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF THIS EMPLOYEE. MSHA, STATE AND COMPANY HAVE INITIATED INVESTIGATION BUT RESULTS ARE NOT YET AVAILABLE.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

AT 6:31 AM AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED BEHIND THE OLD 2 LEFT MAINS SEALS RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF THIS EMPLOYEE. MSHA, STATE AND COMPANY HAVE INITIATED INVESTIGATION, BUT RESULTS NOT YET AVAILABLE.

AT 6:31 AM AN EXPLOSION OCCURED BEHIND THE OLD 2 LEFT MAINS SEALS RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF THIS EMPLOYEE. MSHA, STATE AND COMPANY INVESTIGATION INITIATED BUT RESULTS NOT YET AVAILABLE.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

AT 6:31 AM AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED BEHIND THE OLD 2 LEFT MAINS SEALS RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF THIS EMPLOYEE. MSHA, STATE AND COMPANY HAVE INITIATED INVESTIGATION, BUT RESULTS NOT YET AVAILABLE.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

AT 6:31 AM AN EXPLOSION OCCURED BEHIND THE OLD 2 LEFT MAINS SEALS RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF THIS EMPLOYEE. MSHA, STATE AND COMPANY INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN INITIATED BUT RESULTS NOT YET AVAILABLE.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.

At 6:31 am an explosion occurred behind the old 2 left mains seals resulting in the death of this employee. MSHA, State and Company have initiated investigation but results not yet available.