Laborer
The victim was mounting a haul truck tire on a rim when a rim locking ring dislodged and struck employee, causing fatal injuries.
On April 9, 2023, Filemon Ortiz, a 63 year-old laborer with approximately ten years of mining experience, died while mounting off-road truck tires on two-piece wheel rims with lock rings (rims). The lock ring from one of the assembled rims dislodged, causing the lock ring to propel into the air and strike Ortiz. The accident occurred because the mine operator did not: 1) correct defects on rims that affected safety to prevent the creation of a hazard to miners, 2) provide task training for mounting tires on rims, and 3) notify MSHA when mining commenced.
-
The mine operator did not correct defects on rims that affected safety to prevent the creation of a hazard to miners.
Corrective action: The mine operator removed all two-piece wheel rims with lock rings from the mine. All wheel assembly will be conducted by a tire technician off mine property. The mine operator adopted this policy in their Part 46 Training Plan.
-
The mine operator did not provide task training for mounting tires on rims.
Corrective action: The mine operator removed all two-piece wheel rims with lock rings from the mine and only one-piece wheel rims will be used at the mine. Additionally, all wheel assembly will be conducted by a tire technician off mine property. The mine operator adopted this policy in their Part 46 Training Plan.
-
The mine operator did not notify MSHA when mining commenced.
Corrective action: The mine operator has officially notified MSHA of the commencement ofoperations and MSHA will continue to inspect the mine in accordance with the Mine Act.
Findings from MSHA's final investigation report, which supersedes the preliminary narrative above.
- Activity at time of incident
- Machine Maintenance
- Subunit / location
- STRIP, QUARY, OPEN PIT
- Accident type
- Struck by flying object
- Source of injury
- METAL,(Not Elsewhere Classified)(PIPE,WIRE,NAIL)
- Nature of injury
- CRUSHING
- Body part affected
- HEAD,NEC
- Total mining experience
- 10 years
- Experience at this mine
- 0 years
- Experience in this job
- 20 years
- Degree of injury
- FATALITY
Every record on this page mirrors what MSHA publishes under its Open Government Data program, refreshed weekly. MSHA does not publish per-accident URLs (the Accidents data is distributed as a single bulk file), so this is how to retrieve the source for the specific record below:
- Final investigation report: Read MSHA's final report
-
Accident record:
Download MSHA Accidents.zip
then search for Document number
220235550001(the unique key per MSHA Form 7000-1) -
Mine record:
MSHA Mine Data Retrieval System
and search by Mine ID
4003591 - All MSHA datasets: Open Government Data program directory covering Accident, Mines, Inspections, Violations, etc.