Maintenance Man

During maintenance, a miner was struck by the boom of an excavator that was being used to position crusher parts; causing him to lose balance and fall approximately 11 feet. The fall resulted in several broken bones. MSHA arrived on site the afternoon of the accident and started an investigation. *Employee died on 5/26/2015.

Michael Dennis Schmidt, mechanic, age 67, was seriously injured on May 13, 2014. Mr. Schmidt was performing maintenance on a cone crusher. At the time of the accident, Schmidt was standing on the crusher drive belt guard. An excavator had been used to lower components into the cone crusher. The operator of the excavator stopped the work and was getting out of the cab to speak to Schmidt when the excavator swung and the bucket knocked Schmidt off of the crusher. Schmidt fell approximately 11 feet to the ground, landing on his head and shoulder. Schmidt was transported to the local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to stabilize his condition. He spent more than a week in the Intensive Care Unit on life support. Following his hospitalization, Schmidt was sent to various long term care facilities, but succumbed to his injuries on May 26, 2015. Management failed to ensure that the hydraulic system on the excavator was deactivated. This allowed the boom to swing, knocking the victim off of the cone crusher. Management also failed to ensure that miners were wearing fall protection devices when exposed to the danger of falling. On September 3, 2015, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) referred the accident to the Chargeability Review Committee (CRC). On April 12, 2016, the CRC determined that this death should be charged to the mining industry.

1. The excavator operator was unable to effectively maintain control of the excavator while exiting the cab of the unit, resulting in the excavator bucket striking the victim.

   Corrective action: The operator retrained miners to shut down the unit before exiting the cab.

2. The victim was not wearing any type of fall protection to prevent him from falling from the top of the cone crusher.

   Corrective action: Miners were retrained in the proper use of fall protection

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

Fall from machine

Source of injury

GROUND

Nature of injury

FRACTURE,CHIP

Body part affected

MULTIPLE PARTS (MORE THAN ONE MAJOR)

Total mining experience

13 years

Experience at this mine

13 years

Experience in this job

13 years

Degree of injury

FATALITY