Haul/Off Road/Coal/Ore/Pit/Quarry/Rock/Rubber Tire Truck Driver

An outside truck driver came onto this site to get loaded where the driver then parked their truck and was out of view from out scale house. Driver began to work on the back of the truck where the air bag blew out from under the truck and hit the driver in the head. Driver was not our employee, nor was the driver supposed to be working on their truck.

On June 1, 2023, at 1:49 p.m., Ricardo Martinez, a 61 year-old customer truck driver, died from injuries he suffered after being struck by the right rear passenger side suspension assembly. Martinez was attempting to repair the ride height adjustment that controlled the rear air bag assembly at the time of the accident. The accident occurred because the mine operator did not ensure the machinery was blocked against hazardous motion before repair work began.

1. The mine operator did not ensure the machinery was blocked against hazardous motion before repair work began.

   Corrective action: The mine operator established a new procedure preventing anyone that is not an employee or a designated contractor of Hockley Plant from performing maintenance or repairs while on their property. The mine operator has trained, and will continue to train, all customer truck drivers on their new procedure.

Read the full report (PDF)

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 rolling or sliding object

Source of injury

METAL,(Not Elsewhere Classified)(PIPE,WIRE,NAIL)

Nature of injury

UNCLASSIFIED,NOT DETERMED

Body part affected

HEAD,NEC

Experience in this job

10 years

Degree of injury

FATALITY