Laborer fatality at Portable 11 (J R Vinagro Corporation), RI, October 7, 2022

A miner entered the air separator to clear a blockage. The miner became engulfed in the material.

On October 7, 2022, at approximately 8:30 a.m., Selvin Ovando-Gamez, a 29 year-old laborer with over four years of mining experience, died when he entered an air separator and was engulfed by material. The accident occurred because J R Vinagro did not: 1) ensure the laborer wore a safety belt and line and a person, similarly equipped, was available to tend the safety line and that the supply and discharge equipment was locked out; and 2) provide task training for clearing blockages from the air separator.GENERAL INFORMATION J R Vinagro owns and operates the Portable 11 plant. At the time of the accident, the portable plant was located at Tiverton Materials' Tiverton Materials mine located in Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island. The Tiverton Materials mine is a quarry where granite is drilled, blasted, crushed, screened, and separated. The Portable 11 plant employs ten miners and operates one shift per day, five days per week. The principal management officials at the Portable 11 plant at the time of the accident were: Michael Santilli Crushing OperationsPaul Askew Safety DirectorEctor Velasquez Site Leadman The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) completed the last regular safety and health inspection at this mine on April 20, 2022. The 2021 non-fatal days lost incident rate for the Portable 11 plant was zero, compared to the national average of 0.9 for mines of this type.

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

Activity at time of incident

Enter/Work In Bins, Silos

Subunit / location

STRIP, QUARY, OPEN PIT

Accident type

Caught in, under or between collapsing material or buildings

Source of injury

SAND,GRAVEL,SHELL

Nature of injury

SUFFOC,SMOK INHILAT,DROWN

Body part affected

BODY SYSTEMS

Total mining experience

4 years

Experience at this mine

4 years

Experience in this job

4 years

Degree of injury

FATALITY

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