Rio Tinto Kennecott CopperMining Incidents in 2011

Employee's left index finger was pinched in a hand grab railing while attempting to enter the cab of a haulage truck, resulting in a fracture injury.

EEs were conducting annual inspections of barges to check water levels & check for any corrosion. On last barge of the day, EE was grinding a bolt off in order to open barge lid when an undetermined pressure bent lid up & the pressure blew EE back. The pressure blew his safety shield & hard hat & caused laceration on forehead. The pressure burned his arms & small patch on neck.

An employee was working to replace a roller bearing on a hydraulic shovel when a piece of the bearing broke loose, contacting his leg. The employee sustained a fracture to his right leg as a result of contact with the bearing.

Employee was removing a pin from the 930E front wheel group when the jack slipped out and struck the employee fracturing his left leg.

Craftsman was working to replace a tire on a 24H motor grader when his fingers entered the framework of a hydraulic push tool resulting in a crushing injury to his left hand.

Drill crew was tripping drill rod when the sling hook came out of the pin end of the rod causing it to land on the drill table. As the rod fell to the deck, the sling hook came off and swung towards a drill helper. The helper put his arm up to block the sling hook, resulting in a fracture injury to his forearm.

Employee was exiting the bed of the one ton crew truck when his foot slipped off the penal hitch, used for a step, causing him to lose his balance and twisting his left ankle.

Employee was working with another employee(Manlift operator) approximately 15 ' in the air performing structural steel bolt-up. He attempted to remove a beam clamp while the manbasket was still being positioned. This resulted in a pinch point injury between the beam clamp and the rail of the manlift.

While connecting a hose to the well head on a horizontal drain well, a melon sized rock fell off the highwall. The rock struck the employee in the right thigh, causing a laceration and bruising.

I was starting down a 7% hill, when the lift truck popped out of gear, as the lift started picking up speed down the hill, my first instinct was to try to put the machine back into gear to regain braking control. The machine was a hydrostatic drive system. I was unable to put the machine into gear and decided to un-do my seat belt and jump from the lift.

A craftsman was attempting to punch holes in a metal bracket when he pinched the tip of his thumb between the machine head and bracket resulting in an open fracture injury requiring sutures.

Employee just finished grinding his weld, started to remove air hood felt something in his left eye. His eye started to turn red with the irritation from the foreign body.

A shovel operator was injured while attempting to egress the shovel when his left hand was pinched between a stair step and roller resulting in a laceration injury requiring sutures.

Invert was brought in with a bobcat. Tag line was attached. Tag line was removed in order to set in place. Invert was partially under the belt when it was set down to reposition the rigging. As invert was lowered one end raised up due to uneven ground. EE had a hand on the invert, when it came up his finger was pinched between the invert and the under carriage of the conveyer belt.

Employee was cleaning particle size monitor intake hose screen. While doing this the screen contacted hand rail, causing the screen to bounce back and strike the employee in the chin. This resulted in a 2cm laceration on the chin. 4 sutures were required to close the wound.

Employee sustained a laceration to the forehead from contact with a fire extinguisher when the haul truck (100 ton) he was operating struck a berm on the haul road.

Employee was pulling down on a pry bar. The pry bar slipped and hit him in the right cheek resulting in a laceration that required three sutures to close.

A worn liner fell and struck another liner and a piece of steel flew off and struck an employee in the face.

The worker was in the process of picking up metal banding in the liner yard. The worker grabbed a piece of banding with both hands and tossed it to the side. As he did this, the edge of the banding contacted the top of his left hand, at the base of the thumb. This resulted in a laceration requiring 4 sutures to close. The worker was not wearing gloves as required.

Employee was cutting a piece of cheese in the lunchroom with a folding knife when he cut his thumb.

Employee was cutting a piece of tubing with a utility knife when he cut his left thumb.

Haul truck operator stumbled while boarding a haul truck and fell against the grating cover over the radiator. In the process, the employee lacerated his right thumb on the grating requiring 8 sutures.