Belt Foreman

The employee was working on a Fletcher roof bolter. He had the panel board off trouble shooting inside the electrical components of the machine. He apparently came in contact with electricity. The investigation is not complete at this time.

At approximately 10:25 a.m. on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, Michael J. Justice (Victim), age 41, was fatally injured while working underground at the mine. The victim was working inside the explosion proof enclosure of a 600 volt alternating current (VAC) roof bolting machine. The victim came in contact with one phase lead of the 600 VAC circuit and was electrocuted. Through interviews and evidence gathered at the scene of the accident, it is believed the victim was working on the energized roof bolting machine’s intrinsically safe (IS) control relay at the time of the accident. It is believed that he was putting the relay retainer bands (two O-rings) on the relay at the time of the accident. The root cause of the accident was failure to comply with provisions of 30 CFR § 75.511, which requires visual disconnecting devices to be locked out and suitably tagged by the persons who perform electrical work.

1. The mine operator failed to follow well established and well known safe electrical work requirements. Additionally, the mine operator’s programs, policies and procedures were not sufficient to prevent miners from working on energized electrical equipment without first locking and tagging out the equipment before electrical work is started.

   Corrective action: The mine operator modified its training program to clearly define the difference between performing electrical troubleshooting and performing electrical work. All miners were retrained on the differences between performing troubleshooting and electrical work. Troubleshooting training included glove requirements at specific voltages. Electrical work training included lock out, tag out procedures. The mine’s Part 48 training program was revised to include specific training of the items above in the Task Training section.

Findings from MSHA's final investigation report, which supersedes the preliminary narrative above.

Activity at time of incident

Electrical Maintenance

Subunit / location

UNDERGROUND

Underground location

FACE

Mining method

Longwall

Accident type

Contact with electrical current

Source of injury

ELECTRICAL APPARATUS,(Not Elsewhere Classified)

Nature of injury

ELECT SHOCK,ELECTROCUTION

Body part affected

BODY SYSTEMS

Total mining experience

19 years

Experience at this mine

4 years

Experience in this job

2 years

Degree of injury

FATALITY