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REPORT OF FATAL ACCIDENT 2000 | |||
| Name of Victim: | William Foster | ||
| Address: | McConnelsburg | ||
| Name of Mine: | New Hope Crushed Stone Quarry | ||
| Mine Type: | Industrial Minerals Surface | ||
| Permit No.: | 7974SM3 | ||
| License No.: | 1879 | ||
| County: | Bucks | ||
| Municipality: | Solebury | ||
| Name of Company: | New Hope Crushed Stone & Limestone Co. | ||
| Date of Accident: | April 12, 2000 | ||
| DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCIDENT
On April 12, 2000, at approximately 5:00 p.m., William Foster, age 38, employed as a laborer for Kinsley Construction, Inc., subcontractor to Mellot Enterprises, Inc., the primary plant construction contractor, was fatally injured. The victim was assigned to work with a service technician from H.B. Mellot Estate, Inc., another subcontractor, tracking belts on conveyors. The victim was instructed on how to rack the return rollers and adjust conveyor belts by the service technician, and both individuals completed the tracking of the C13 conveyor without incident. At approximately 3:55 p.m., both the victim and the service technician began working on the C10 conveyor belt. The service technician last observed the victim kneeling on the C10 conveyor walkway, reaching around the guarded area of the lower bend pulley. It is believed that the victim was cutting ties to the lubrication line on the bend pulley. Around 4:45 p.m., the service technician visually examined the C10 conveyor walkway to make sure it was free of personnel, and observing no one on the walkway, radioed James Minnichbach, Vice President, Mellot Enterprises, Inc., who was supervising the testing of the conveyor belts, that belt C10 could be started. The conveyor belt breaker immediately tripped when the conveyor belt was started, and the conveyor belt stopped after traveling approximately two to three feet. Two contract (Gettle Electric) electrical employees, working at the 6614 cone crusher (below the C10 conveyor) then observed the victim caught between a bend pulley and the framework of the C10 conveyor and alerted other personnel on site. Local police, rescue and emergency medical personnel were then summoned via 911, and personnel on site began efforts to free the victim. The guard on the bend pulleys was removed, and the conveyor belt was cut by the workers on site and the victim was removed. Emergency personnel then attended to the victim and transported him to the local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The coroner’s report attributes the victim’s death to traumatic asphyxia due to compression of the chest, as a result of being caught in a conveyor belt. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT Although no one actually saw or witnessed the accident, evidence at the site and interviews with the victim’s co-workers indicate or leaves investigators to believe that the victim was cutting ties to the lubrication lines on the C10 conveyor bend pulley. Therefore, it appears that the main cause of the accident was management’s failure to implement a lock and tag out procedure for the C10 conveyor prior to working on it, and the failure of site personnel to ascertain the location of all co-workers working on that specific piece of equipment or machinery prior to the energizing of said equipment or machinery. RECOMMENDATION
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REPORT OF FATAL ACCIDENT 2000 | |||
| Name of Victim: | Jeff Cunko | ||
| Address: | West Finley | ||
| Name of Mine: | Bailey Deep Mine | ||
| Mine Type: | Bituminous Underground Mine | ||
| Permit No.: | 30841316 | ||
| License No.: | 4305 | ||
| County: | Greene | ||
| Municipality: | Richhill | ||
| Name of Company: | Consol PA Coal Co. | ||
| Date of Accident: | October 29, 2000 | ||
| DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCIDENT
On October 29, 2000, at approximately 12:35 a.m., the victim, age 50, a maintenance foreman, and two mechanics were in the process of removing slack from the bunker B-side conveyor chain. The victim was standing on the catwalk located above the conveyor drive torque arm. He was operating the control box jogging the conveyor so the mechanics could install dogs in the conveyor chain. They installed the first two dogs on the top chain and the victim jogged the conveyor two or three times toward the discharge end in an attempt to align the conveyor chain to install two additional dogs. When he attempted to jog the conveyor one more time, the weld holding the eyelet to an eight inch steel beam which secured the bunker B-side conveyor motor torque arm failed causing the torque arm to rotate up through a steel catwalk structure the victim was standing on, inflicting fatal injuries. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT This accident occurred due to the failure of the weld holding the eyelet to the eight inch steel beam imbedded in the concrete structure. During the investigation, it was determined that the eyelet had been relocated (cut off and re-welded by contractors installing the bunker). The weld used to relocate the eyelet displayed poor workmanship. The design of the anchoring system for the torque arm and motor contributed to the accident. A Safe Work Instruction (SWI) was not developed for taking slack out of the bunker chain at the time of the accident, but safe work practices were being followed. RECOMMENDATION
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REPORT OF FATAL ACCIDENT 2000 | |||
| Name of Victim: | Gary W. Kerley | ||
| Address: | Blairsville | ||
| Name of Mine: | Shade Creek Plant | ||
| Mine Type: | Bituminous Preparation Plant | ||
| Permit No.: | 56841603 | ||
| License No.: | 1231 | ||
| County: | Somerset | ||
| Municipality: | Shade | ||
| Name of Company: | PBS Coals, Inc. | ||
| Date of Accident: | December 19, 2000 | ||