All MSHA-reportable accidents at Cargill Salt operations in 2016. Fatalities appear first.
While performing test trips on #1 hoist, the slack rope knocker got pulled and would not reset. It was found that the switch was broken causing the hoist to be down. The decision was made to evacuate the mine and MSHA was called. The electricians replaced the switch and everything went back to normal.
At 5:30am there was an electrical arc in our substation & at 2 NYSEG switch locations. UG power dropped due to the arcing & surface power was disconnected purposefully. NYSEG arrived at ~9:30am to investigate the problem & correct it. This issue obviously caused our #1 & #3 hoists to go down. We suspect that atmospheric conditions and salt buildup caused the outage.
Electricians could not get the MG set to operate properly. It was identified that the brake control stick was not properly positioned. The brake controller was repositioned and the system was reset.
The feeder coil on the surface 70 ton bin failed. The bin was unable to feed material out and was too full to accept a load from one of the productions skips that had already been loaded. The feeder coil was replaced, the loaded production skip was emptied, and the hoist was able to once again be used for man hoisting.
Service Hoist tripped out on over speed due to receiving a faulty amp signal.
The Hydraulic pump would not reset on the production hoist pinion brakes. Employee replaced motor starter but the pump still would not run. Employee found blown control fuse replaced it and the hoist was back up and running.
At 11:45 pm an employee noticed a hydraulic leak and found a crack in the hydraulic block of the break unit of the #1 hoist. So, the hoist went down until the hydraulic block was replaced by a new one. This accident has been reported to the manufacturer and investigation will continue in order to find what caused the crack to appear.
The hoist operator was doing the pre-shift test trip and was getting incorrect slack rope faults on the load cells. Once on site the engineer investigated and found a loose wire in the control box of the load cells that caused it to give incorrect faults. Once they tightened the loose wire and re-calibrated it everything worked as it should.
The fresh water solenoid valve shorted the controls system for the #2 hoist.
At approx. 5:15 AM surface maintenance discovered that the PLC system for the production hoist had frozen preventing them from being able to operate the hoist controls. Trouble shooting was done, the PLC was reset, and the hoist was functional.
While starting the test trip it was discovered that the # 2 hoist would not power up on line power OR generator power. Troubleshooting began and 4 hoist control fuses were found to be blown and 1 circuit breaker tripped. MSHA was called at 3:45pm and notified, at 5:33pm MSHA was notified that the hoist was back running.
The hoist operator attempted to hoist a loaded North skip to the surface. Hoist tripped out, no faults, upon further investigation electrician found 120 Volt circuit not present in the West drive cabinet. Through trouble shooting a 3 amp fuse, for the 120 Volt circuit, was found to be blown.
We were changing the dog springs in the #3 mancage as a PM. During this process the lifting beam needs to be detached from the drawhead of the cage. The lifting beam was lifted to high by the hoist and the backing plate of the lifting beam was bent. The lifting beam needed to be repaired prior to putting the cage back into service.
On the afternoon of the 19th the decision was made to evacuate the mine due to the discovery of the dogging mechanisms on the #2 escape hoist not working properly.
The 70 ton feeder was not running this allowed the 70 ton hopper to fill and stop hoisting. The west skip of the production hoist could not be emptied and because of that it could not be used an escape way if needed. The coil of the feeder was repaired and normal operation continued.
While performing test trips the #3 hoist kicked out and the drive would not reset. A program change to correct a nuisance trip for the new slack rope detection system also created a new fault for mismatch speed between the drive and PLC. During the hoist test trip, the mismatch speed fault occurred, but could not be reset due to an error in the logic code that was installed.
At 5:13pm there was an instantaneous over-current that caused the East motor drive of the #1 hoist to trip out. This was due to a housing bolt that broke on an SCR causing it to arc against the cooling fins. The cause was found the next day on 2/25/16 and repaired.
An operator was tramming the 750 cable truck in A main in intake air when the equipment stalled at M17 along the west rib line. The operator attempted to restart the equipment but it would not start. The employee turned to look at the engine to see if they could identify a problem and noticed flames coming from the engine compartment.
While riding the skip into the mine for the start of 3rd shift, the skip stopped suddenly near the 770 foot depth. A broken guide in the North side of the shaft had moved a couple inches in towards the center of the shaft causing a wear plate on the skip to get caught on it, stopping the skip. 17 miners were on board at the time of the incident.
At approximately 11:50am the #3 Hoist AC breaker tripped and would not reset while doing test trips. About 45 minutes later the breaker was repaired and several test trips were performed successfully. By 1pm the hoist was back up and running. No one was underground at the time of the incident.
Initial injury occurred on 7/14/15 while employee was stacking 50lb salt blocks on a pallet. After visiting the doctor it was determined that it was just a strain and employee was sent back to work on full duty. On 5/31/16 Employee was shoveling salt at the screen plant. After taking EE to the doctor it was determined that EE has a hernia and was put on light duty.
Employee was cutting belt line with a retractable knife. Employee put themselves in the line of fire by cutting towards wrist and cut themselves needing sutures.
Injured employee was front seat passenger in a four seat UTV personnel vehicle. The driver turned too wide and tipped the UTV over on the driver's side. Injured employee reached across chest with left hand to brace for impact, injuring left shoulder. Did not become recordable accident until 8/23/16
An employee was using a retractable blade safety knife to cut a tie wrap. EE had the safety knife in right hand. EE was holding a pipe and hose in left hand. The pipe moved and the knife stuck the employee's left thumb causing an approximate 2"" laceration on the inside portion. The employee was taken in for medical evaluation, received sutures and released to full duty.
Employee/contractor was working on a troubleshooting task for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour on computer in the clearlane building with mine employee/witness. EE passed out/fainted in the clearlane room. The room temperature was warm at an estimated 100-105 degrees. Heat and dehydration were determined to have contributed to the incident.
Employees sending a switchgear underground in material cage. Switchgear was suspended in the cage while EE's tried to secure the bottom of the switchgear. EE stepped between the switchgear and forklift to attach the chains, the switchgear shifted pinching the EE's left leg between the forks & switchgear. EE received an abrasion/contusion to their shin.