Welder (Shop) fatality at PIGEON CREEK (Westmoreland Coal Company), VA, July 9, 1991

at 4:15 AM

On July 9, 1991, a welder (shop) was fatally injured in a machinery accident at PIGEON CREEK (Westmoreland Coal Company), VA.

PIGEON CREEK · Facility · Coal

Operator: Westmoreland Coal Company

Wise County, VA

Classification MACHINERY

Type Caught in, under or between (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Investigator narrative

THE EMPLOYEE WAS PREPARING TO REPAIR HOLES IN THE WALL OF THE ROTARY BREAKER.HE ENTERED THE ROTARY BREAKER BELIEVING THE ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT TO BE DE-ENERGIZED.WHEN IT WAS STARTED BY ANOTHER EM PLOYEE WHO BELIEVED THAT HE HAD BEEN ASKED TO START IT,A FATAL INJURY RESULTED.

Record details

Activity at time of incident: Machine Maintenance
Subunit / location: MILL OPERATION/PREPARATION PLANT
Accident type: Caught in, under or between (Not Elsewhere Classified)
Source of injury: MACHINE-MILL,CLEANING PLT
Nature of injury: FRACTURE,CHIP
Body part affected: SKULL
Total mining experience: 17 years
Experience at this mine: 17 years
Experience in this job: 17 years
Degree of injury: FATALITY

Related fatalities

Same operator

August 21, 1992 · Roof Bolter · Westmoreland Coal Company, VA
November 29, 1986 · Beltman · Westmoreland Coal Company, VA
October 5, 1983 · Electrician · Westmoreland Coal Company, VA

Same classification

July 1, 2026 · Electrician · Warrior Met Coal BC, LLC, AL
May 20, 2026 · Maintenance Man · Pine Branch Mining LLC, KY
March 12, 2026 · Maintenance Man · Kennecott Utah Copper LLC, UT
March 5, 2026 · Continuous Miner Operator · Patton Mining LLC, IL
January 6, 2026 · Maintenance Man · National Cement Company Of California Inc, CA

Same year

December 28, 1991 · Mine Manager · Stillwater Mining Company, MT
December 27, 1991 · Haul/Off Road/Coal/Ore/Pit/Quarry/Rock/Rubber Tire Truck Driver · Sierra Rock Products, CA
December 26, 1991 · Maintenance Man · Spring Creek Coal Company, MT
December 19, 1991 · Laborer · Coal Valley Mining Inc, IL
December 18, 1991 · Welder (Shop) · Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc, NV

Verify on MSHA

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:

Accident record: Download MSHA Accidents.zip then search for Document number 219912040001 (the unique key per MSHA Form 7000-1)
Mine record: MSHA Mine Data Retrieval System and search by Mine ID 4403088
All MSHA datasets: Open Government Data program directory covering Accident, Mines, Inspections, Violations, etc.

Source: US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) · Document 219912040001 · Mine ID 4403088 Trainer view →