Pinnacle Mining Company, LLCMining Incidents in 2015

The 8 Haulage elevator was inoperable in excess of 30 minutes due to one of the wedges catching. No one was on the elevator during this time.

Switch on the bottom elevator doors was misaligned and would not operate. Switch was re-aligned and tighten down.

The weekly examiner found an unintentional roof fall inby the 4 Right EP. This area is not travelled or examined. The fall did not effect any other travel or ventilation.

An unplanned roof fall occurred on the 9L section at the #28 break, 2x1 crosscut. The fall was approximately 95' long by 18' wide by 9' high. The fall was above anchorage but did not affect ventilation or passage.

At approximately 2:10am the weekly examiner found an unintentional roof fall in the 8 South #1 entry 1 crosscut out by the 8 South #1 seal.

The power supply failed on the 8 Haulage elevator causing the elevator to be inoperable for over 30 minutes.

Continuous miner cut into a degas hole that was in the top instead of in the coal seam. The sparks from the miner bits cutting the rock caused an ignition of a pocket of gas in the degas hole.

The 8 haulage elevator, our secondary escape way, hover travel switch lock into place, causing the elevator to stop movement. The elevator was operational at 8:24pm

Employee was shoveling loose material on the 8 West #2 belt at #37 crosscut. As he raised the shovel up to dump the material, he felt a pain in his lower back.

Injured was installing 6' torque tension bolts in #4 entry on 9M. When he pushed away and up on the roof bolt he felt a pop in his right shoulder. He was transported to Welch EMG where he was treated for pain in right shoulder.

Injured was tramming scope when he hit a hole in the bottom throwing him into the canopy of the scoop. Causing pain in his neck. He finished the shift and saw the PA on site.

Injured was walking around the belt drive when he slipped in mud and water reaching out he caught himself against the motor shroud pushing it into the fan catching his hand. He was transported to Welch Emergency Hospital where he was referred to a specialist.

Injured and witness were standing at the ch4 monitors, when the miner quit tramming. A slicken sided rock 8'x6'x3' fell on the boom and slid down the operators side breaking and striking injured on the top of his right foot. He was transported to the hospital. Treated and referred to a specialist.

Employee was working in an area that had cement mixture floating in the water. The employee had the water soak into his rain suit and rubber boots and the chemical reaction caused chemical burns to the skin.

A maintenance employee was standing on a temporary work platform, four feet off of the ground, cutting bolts loose from a bracket that was holding a 10" poly pipe elbow. As he cut one of the bolts the torch flashed, startling him and he jumped off of the platform. As he landed on the concrete floor, his ankle twisted sideways, causing a fracture.

Injured operating continuous miner when started cutting rock he felt sharp pain in left bicep and arm. He had a puncture wound to his left bicep. He was transported to the emergency room where he was referred to another doctor to have a piece of carbide removed from his left bicep.

Employee was traveling through a mandoor from the #2 to the #3 entry at the #35 crosscut on the 9L section. As he passed through the door, the door shut on his right hand causing a laceration that required stitches to his index finger.

Employee was operating continuous miner. While cutting coal and rock a piece of carbon broke off of the tip of one of the miner bits, flew back and struck the employee in the left forearm. The carbon became embedded in the employee's arm. The employee was standing behind the boom of the miner.

Injured was helping to hang a #6 AWG scoop charger cable from roof bolt plates at 9K Longwall # 46 break, #2 to #1 Break through in 7.5' high top when he felt pain in his left shoulder. He is not working but no communication on whether he has been to a doctor for a diagnosis.

Employee was dragging hose for application of rock dust to the area when the hose came loose from the coupling and the employee lost his balance falling onto the ground injuring his left shoulder.

Injured employee was a passenger on #25 bus and spurred into 9G to allow supply motors to pass, when the supply motor hit the 9G switch, the motor veered into 9G, striking the #25 bus and injuring a miner.

Employee was installing belt support in #1 entry when a rock fell out of the top and struck him on the right arm.

Employee was tramming bulldozer to load a train at the clean coal stockpile when he backed over a wind row and felt a pain in his lower back.

Employee was conducting a pre-shift examination and he went to lift a piece of metal from the top of the roof bolter, the metal fell onto his left foot.

While sitting on the roof bolter, eating his lunch, a piece of slate fell out of the top and struck him on the back of the neck.

Employee slipped on ice in parking lot while coming into work. Employee had not clocked into work.

Employee was scaling to top when the rock he was scaling struck the slate bar he was using, and the slate bar struck the employee in the right thigh and knee.

Miner was walking in #1 entry when he tripped over a Side Push Jack on the Longwall Tail Piece and felt pain in his ankle.

Employee was helping transport 5 gallons of oil by hand, when he felt a "pop" in his lower back, then informed his foreman of excessive discomfort.

Employee was moving rock dust from the track to the belt entry, when she tripped over a cable in the entry and struck her right shin on the floor of the mine.

Employee was installing rib bolt, when a piece of his arm guard, required PPE for our operators, became entangled in the Roof Bolt Wrench and injured his right arm.

Employee was operating continuous miner when a rock fell out of the top and struck him on the right hand.

Employee was adjusting the drive belts on unit 98-A pump. He was using a pipe wrench to tighten the motor adjustment bolt on the drive side. The pipe wrench slipped catching fingers between the wrench and drive belt guard causing a hairline fracture to the left middle finger.

Employee was riding on top the #31 mantrip coming off of the 9L section at the end of the shift. The trolley pole came off of the wire, struck the mine roof, then broke into. One of the jagged edges of the broken pole struck the employee on the right hand between the middle and ring fingers causing a laceration that required 5 stitches.

Injured was pulling a rock 3.5"X15"x6". As he was pulling the rock with a slate bar, another rock 1'x4'x2' on top of it fell sliding down the slate bar striking injured on top of right wrist. He was transported outside. He was treated on site by PA and received 5 stitches.

Injured was making a cable splice on the roof bolter when a rock fell from the 15' roof 8"x6"x2" to 0" striking him on the right shoulder driving the knife into of his right leg. He was transported to the hospital where he received 5 stitches in his right leg and contusions to right shoulder area.

Employee was removing a miner bit from a continuous miner and got his right finger caught in-between the miner bit he was extracting and the tool he was using to perform the work.