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between July 1 and September 30, federal officials also had the tall task of releasing final investigation reports for three other fatalities in coal mining that occurred earlier this year and last year. Each pro- vides more insight into the respective sit- uations and can offer some points of detail for preventing future similar events. The first, released July 1, referred to a surface death at MidAmerican Energy Holdings' Jim Bridger complex in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, on October 6, 2013. The machinery fatality killed Mark Stassinos, who was operating a Caterpillar D-11R track bulldozer when, similarly to the third quarter fall death, his bulldozer traveled through a berm at the top of a 163-ft highwall. The bulldozer overturned one and a quarter times before coming to rest with the bulldozer blade stuck vertical into the spoil at the bottom of the highwall. T h e v i c t i m h a d b e e n p a r t i a l l y e j e c t e d o u t t h e r e a r w i n d o w o f t h e b u l l d o z e r b e f o r e i t c a m e t o r e s t , a c c o r d i n g t o investigators. Stassinos was an experienced bulldozer operator, having 10 years of experience, with 1 year and 48 weeks at Jim Bridger, and a review of the work area and train- ing records revealed no problems or inconsistencies. "The accident occurred because the bulldozer operator did not have full con- t r o l o f h i s e q u i p m e n t w h i l e i t w a s i n m o t i o n a t t h e r a m p 5 6 d r i l l b e n c h , " MSHA concluded in its report. "In addi- tion, the seat belt in the cab of the bull- dozer had not been attached or secured b y t h e m a c h i n e o p e r a t o r p r i o r t o t h e occurrence of the accident." MSHA did ask the operator to revise its training program to include a new task training program for track dozers. At the mine, all dozer operators who work on elevated benches have been retrained in the proper procedures and hazards asso- ciated with pushing material off high- walls. Also, while building berms on the highwall, a full blade of dirt will be pushed to within 15 ft of the highwall and a second full blade of material will be pushed next to the first load of material off the highwall. R e t r a i n i n g f o r a l l o n m o b i l e e q u i p - ment present on mine property was also conducted. On August 5, the probe of a February 21, 2014, fatal accident came to a close with the release of the final report in the machinery death at an underground operation in Virginia. The victim was a young but experi- enced miner — Arthur Gelentser III, 24, a 5.5-year mining veteran — who served as a continuous mining machine operator at SunCoke Energy's Dominion No. 30 underground operation in Buchanan County, Virginia. According to the report, the victim was pinned between the boom of a remotely controlled continuous mining machine and the coal rib, a pinch point created by the machine and the coal rib while he was tramming the continuous mining machine in the last open crosscut toward the No. 1 entry. December 2014 www.coalage.com 33 s a f e t y r e p o r t c o n t i n u e d