The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has just issued the report of its investigation into the July 2012 death of Johnny Mack Bryant II, a 35-year- old coal miner from Lenore, W.Va., at Coal River Mining LLC’s Fork Creek No. 10 Mine near Sumerco, Boone County. Here’s the summary of what happened:
On July 27, 2012, at approximately 4:20 a.m., Johnny Mack Bryant II, a 35-year- old coal miner from Lenore, West Virginia, was fatally injured while preparing to load the trailing cable onto a Joy 12CM12 continuous mining machine on the No. 2 Section. Mr. Bryant was pinned between the conveyor boom of the machine and the coal rib while the continuous mining machine was being moved.
The accident was caused by failure to follow a provision of the mine’s approved roof control plan. The “General Safety Precautions” portion of the approved plan prohibits anyone from being along either side of the continuous mining machine while being moved. The precaution requires the continuous mining machine’s pump motor to be de-energized while the trailing cable is being loaded or unloaded.
Let’s look more closely at one of the “root causes” of this death, according to MSHA:
The foreman did not examine the surroundings of the continuous mining machine before starting and tramming the machine because he was preoccupied by the continuous mining machine cable and the victim was observed leaving the area.
The corrective action? Here’s what MSHA said:
The continuous mining machine was fitted with a Prox 1 proximity detection system on August 18, 2012. Five persons on the section are required to carry the transmitters: two continuous mining machine operators, two roof bolting machine operators, and the section foreman.
Interestingly, though, it took the company a while to figure out that they needed to ensure the proximity detection system would also protect maintenance workers like the one who died at this mine. According to MSHA:
Maintenance personnel are now required to wear the transmitters when the continuous mining machine is being operated or trammed from place to place. An addendum to the roof control plan was submitted and approved on March 19, 2013, by the Acting District Manager. The addendum says, “On miners equipped with the Proximity system, Production and Maintenance personnel will utilize the proximity system when operating or moving the miners.”\
Just by way of update, we still haven’t seen MSHA move to finalize rules to require proximity devices to prevent these kinds of needless deaths.