Coal Age

JUL 2016

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July 2016 www.coalage.com 35 safety report 2Q Fatality Overview 2Q Fatality Overview Industry records two coal deaths in April-June period, putting the midyear 2016 total at six by donna schmidt, field editor The changing weather and increased ac- tivity at many of the nation's coal mines that can so often be tied to a rise in fatal ac- cidents has, at least so far, not been a con- tinued trend in the spring and summer of 2016. Between April and June, there were a total of two coal mining deaths, both of them underground and both of them in the bituminous coalfields. The victims also had multiple years of mining experience. On May 16, following a quiet April, a powered haulage incident took the life of 50-year-old Eric Meddings, a motorman at Ach Coal's ACI Tygart Valley Leer mine in Taylor County, West Virginia. The 14-year mining veteran was working as a lead motor- man transporting empty supply cars to the slope bottom along with the tail motorman. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), while switching the cars through a set of airlock doors, the tail motorman heard the lead motor go through a closed airlock door. "When he got to the lead motor, he found the victim unresponsive and slumped over in the operator's seat," pre- liminary findings of the incident revealed. "The tail motorman immediately phoned for help and started CPR within 5 minutes of finding the victim." Meddings was pro- nounced dead at an area hospital. The death was not initially listed as a mining-related death; officials with the state Officer of Miner's Health, Safety and Training were among those investigating the event who initially felt the victim suf- fered a medically related issue. In late June, it was revealed that Meddings died of inju- ries sustained in the incident. "The damage of going through the [airlock] doors resulted in the blunt force trauma that killed the front motorman," MSHA said. At press time, a fatalgram report with more information and best practices for prevention had not been released, nor had the agency's final investigative findings been published. The afternoon of June 6 in Illinois, 34-year-old contract laborer Robbie Clark was killed in a machinery accident at the American Coal Co. New Era operation in Galatia, Saline County. At press time, it was also the most recent coal mining-related fatality. Clark, who had seven years of min- ing experience, had a little more than five weeks in as a laborer, but accident details showed he had only worked at the Murray Energy-owned (as a contractor for David Stanley Consultants). MSHA's preliminary report said the victim, who was moving gravel, was killed after the diesel front-end loader he had been operating fell on him. "For some reason, he lowered the bucket and put downward hydraulic pres- sure on the bucket to raise the middle of the loader up," agency investigators said. "The victim and another miner, a company mine manager, crawled under the loader to check something, possibly a hydraulic [fluid] fuel leak. The hydraulic pressure released, allowing the loader to lower onto and trap the two men under it." According to the report, it was a pre- shift examiner who heard a call for help while passing by; that individual found the pair beneath the loader and placed pressure on the bucket again to raise the machine off of them. Clark was unresponsive after being freed, and CPR efforts were not successful. A fatalgram report released short- ly after the incident largely repeated the preliminary information as to cause, and stressed that miners not work under sus- pended load as part of a group of best practices for prevention of similar events in the future. "Never depend on hydraulics to sup- port a load," MSHA officials said. "Use the manufacturer's recommendations to lift and block equipment against hazardous motion before [capitalized for emphasis] starting any repairs." The agency also urged workers to nev- er proceed with repairs until all safety con- cerns have been adequately resolved, and to conduct examinations from safe loca- tion and verify release of or full control of all stored energy before beginning repair work. MSHA also has asked miners, in addi- tion to ensuring proper safety training and establishing and discussing safe work proce- dures, to always treat suspended loads as un- blocked until blocks or jack stands have been placed and full support has been verified. At press time, a final federal investigation report was still pending on this incident. More Information Released on Huff Creek On April 8, MSHA issued its fatalgram re- port for the March 23 fatal underground A 34-year-old contract laborer died underground at Murray American's New Era mine in Illinois in early June.

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