Alpha Coal West, Inc.Mining Incidents in 2016

Track dozer operator pushing down in the cast and was backing up over the coal rib which jarred the operator resulting in a back strain/sprain

A truck driver's hand was pierced by a pressurized narrow stream of hydraulic fluid from a trailer. This happened while unhooking truck from trailer.

Operator was doing a walk around inspection on blade 3500 & struck hardhat on circle assembly frame. They reported to supervisor & said that they felt ok with slight pain & just wanted to report incident. On 2/26/2016 they reported to safety & human resource that they were still having pain. On 4/5/16 was seen & diagnosed with bulging disc in neck, & placed on restricted duty

Mechanic was putting away a tie rod off of a CAT 789 haul truck. Six days later they informed their supervisor that they thought they received a back injury putting away the tie rod. The EE's medical records indicate a history of back pain and sciatica which is what the EE is being treated for. Medical reports also indicate that sciatica can be caused by herniated/slipped discs.

Employee was operating a road grader blading a haul road, backed the machine up and ran over a large rock jarring the operator which caused the operator to experience pain in the neck and shoulder area. The doctor diagnosed this as a neck strain/sprain. Prescribed pain medication and physical therapy.

Operator was backing a haul truck under shovel to be loaded and contacted shovel bucket. Impact caused a strain/sprain to operator neck and back region.

Pumper was spotting the water truck under the temporary horses head on the lake bottom dump. Pumper climbed on top of the berm for a better view. As pumper was coming down off the berm, miss stepped and rolled ankle causing a sprain to ankle.

Technician slipped off boarding ladder. Technician's face contacted ladder causing a tooth to become dislodged. Tech was taken to the ER where the tooth was reinserted and the employee returned to work the next day. Employee will see dentist for additional work to fix tooth.

Employee was removing pin from steering cylinder to the bell crank. As pin came out, cylinder shifted forward and pinched finger between cylinder and bell crank. This smashed the finger.