Coal Age

JUL 2016

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July 2016 www.coalage.com 37 safety report continued operating a continuous miner (CM) to excavate material during the construc- tion of a coal transfer shaft when the fall occurred. The area where the accident occurred had a depth of cover of approximately 1,950 ft and a height of approximately 17 ft. Frazier had worked at the Harlan County mine for more than 14 years and had seven years of experience as a CM operator. MSHA has not released its final report on the death, the fourth recorded in 2016. Final Report Released for Dana 4 West On June 3, MSHA released its one and only coal mining fatality-related final report to detail the conditions leading up to the death of Jeremy Neice, 31, at Dana Min- ing's No. 4 West mine in Greene County, Pennsylvania, on January 16. The fatality at the mine owned by Gen- Power Holdings was the second of the year and was classified by the agency as a Fall of Face, Rib, Pillar or Highwall. "[The] continuous mining machine operator with 13 years of experience was fatally injured when he was struck by a large section of the mine rib," the report began. "[He] was operating a remote-con- trolled continuous mining machine in the I Sub-Main section when a large portion of the right side rib fell pinning him to the mine floor, causing fatal crushing injuries." The report indicated that, during the early evening shift, Neice had mined about 18 ft out of "Run A" when another worker who witnessed the incident positioned his ram car behind the continuous mining machine to receive a load of coal. "As Neice loaded the ram car, Keller heard a loud 'bang,'" MSHA investigators said of the witness report. "He observed the rib rolling away from the coal block, strik- ing Neice from behind, and pinning him to the mine floor. Keller stated that Neice was standing along the right side rib, approxi- mately 5 ft inby crosscut 21 when the acci- dent occurred." It took several workers to free the vic- tim from the fall; a faint pulse was detected at that time and he was transported about 9,000 ft to the mine's Marshall Portal. CPR efforts were made, but he was pronounced deceased at a local medical center. MSHA ultimately concluded that the mine's operator failed to identify and ef- fectively control adverse rib conditions present on a working section. "[The] operator received fatal crushing injuries when the mine rib rolled away from the coal block and pinned him to the mine floor," officials said. "Deteriorating condi- tions existed prior to the accident indicating rib support was needed to protect miners from hazards relating to falls of mine ribs." In its corrective actions, the agency ordered the operator to revise its ap- proved roof control plan to identify rem- nant pillar areas in the underlying mine that could contribute to poor rib condi- tions. That revised plan also requires rib support to be installed in-cycle in these areas inby the last open crosscut. Additionally, the mine corrected haz- ardous mining conditions and examiners were retrained to properly evaluate and identify them as well as how to remedy any future issues. Two 104(d)(2) significant and substan- tial (S&S;) orders were issued to the No. 4 West operation as a result of the incident; the first cited a violation of 30 CFR Section 75.360(b)(11)(i) for a failure to identify ad- verse rib conditions. "These conditions were obvious and extensive. This is an unwarrantable failure to comply with a mandatory standard," MSHA said. The second 104(d)(2) S&S; order cited 30 CFR Section 75.202(a) for the mine's fail- ure to control the section's ribs. The agen- cy also revealed that standard 75.202(a) had been cited 15 previous times over two years at the mine. One worker was killed in an underground powered haulage incident at the Leer mine on May 16. The scene of an accident at Dana Mining's No. 4 West operation in Pennsylvania that resulted in the death of one miner in January.

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