Mining Incidents in Ohio

Employee was operating a DM45 Highwall Drill on a drill bench. Employee was traveling parallel to the edge and the outside edge gave way. The drill slid off the bench and landed 25 feet below.

A loader bucket on a CAT R3000H came down and crushed an employee while in use, resulting in a fatality. The injured employee was operating a UTV (gator) in Unit 43 near the feeder breaker (Stamler) when the incident occurred. This incident is still under investigation.

Employee died when they became entangled in the log washer.

Employee was working on removing a pin from a leveling cylinder on the back of the rock truck. While the employee was performing this work, the haul truck bed fell on top of the employee.

Employee was engulfed when they entered the primary feed hopper/bin to clear clogged material.

The employee was performing work activities on a sand dredge to free a clam shell bucket from material in a lake when the dredge capsized.

The conditions contributing to this accident are unknown at this time. The weather, road condition, and equipment failure is not of suspect as of this date. The miner lost his life

A fatal accident occurred on the longwall face around #144 shield. A ladder line hose got pinched under the toe of the #144 shield. EE did not see hose under shield and initiated the electronic push of the pan-line. The hose that was pinched under the toe of the shield, stretched by movement of pan-line, broke apart and high pressure emulsion fluid struck victim as he traveled by.

Employee was directing an end loader towards himself to hook a strap to it for removal of a dolly that was used to move the hi-wall miner launch. Contributing factors were attempting to hook a 6' strap while standing in front of this moving machine and stationary dolly. Cause was human error/bad judgement by the victim and end loader opr.

EE was shoving top soil away from the highwall. He backed up over and through an 8 foot berm that had been constructed at the edge of the highwall. The dozer went over the wall rolling over and throwing him out of the cab.

The victim was leaning over a base lift jack housing. The molded casing catastrophically failed striking the victim in the chest from unknown/undetectable reasons. Cause was catastrophic failure of the housing. Compliance with rules/regs, protective items not a factor, miner proficiency may be a factor, mining equip/systems may be a factor.

An employee was struck by a slab of rock that measured approximately 8 inches to 12 inches thick by 50 to 70 inches wide by 74 inches long. The roof fall occurred at the 34 Main between crosscut 1 North 4 and 1 North 5.

Employee fell but no one observed his work being performed or his fall. Employee died.

4-employees were performing preventative maintenance on the aerial tram system used to transport stone from the quarry to the plant. While tensioning the steel cable used to carry the tram buckets, the hydraulic cylinder assembly pulled loose from its anchor point. One employee was fatally injured and another suffered a broken leg, after being struck by components of the system.

The worker fell from the bag plant roof where he had been cleaning to the truck dock approximately 17 feet below. The specific explanations for being near the edge or for falling are unknown. Weather conditions and working surface believed to be non-contributory. There were no direct eyewitnesses to the fall. The fall resulted in the death of the worker. Investigation ongoing.

Shuttle car operator stopped to talk to the shuttle car operator in the crosscut behind him. Scoop operator in crosscut in front proceeded to cross in front of shuttle car. Shuttle car operator proceeded with the buggy towards the feeder running over the scoop operator in front of him.

Employee was making dredge repairs using hand tools: 3/4"" ratchet & 4'-long cheater pipe. He took dredge pump apart and left the ratchet and pipe on the end of the shaft. He started the engine and then engaged the clutch. The pipe came around and hit him on the left side of his skull. Employee was hospitalized and died of his injuries on 7/3/05.

OPERATOR DID NOT SEE THE VICTIM ON FOOT BEHIND HIM WHILE BACKING DOWN RAMP LEADING TO FEED THE HOPPER. THERE WAS ONE VICTIM INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT.

EMPLOYEE (FOREMAN) DID NOT TURN POWER OFF AND LOCK OUT 486 VOLT ELECTRIC BOX. CUT CABLE AND MADEA SPLICE. WAS ELECTRICUTED. TAKEN TO MOUNT CARMEL HOSPITAL. WE WERE NOTIFIED OF HIS DEATH APPROX 2:00 PM.

WHILE PREPARING TO ATTACH ROCKDUST HOSE TO POD DUSTER, THE DUSTER WAS STRUCK BY 3 SUPPLY CARS WHICH HAD BROKEN LOOSE FROM THE SLOPE CAR AT THE TOP OF THE SLOPE. CARS STRUCK THE DUSTER & THE VI CTIM WAS FATALY INJURED. THE CARS TRAVELED APPROXIMATELY 1700 FT. BEFORE STRIKING THE ROCKDUSTER. CAUSE OF THE CARS BREAKING LOOSE IS STILL UNDETERMINED.