On Thursday, January 26, 2017, a 42-year-old miner with 23 years of mining experience was fatally injured when he contacted a moving drive roller for the section belt. The victim was positioned between the guard and the conveyor belt drive when he came in contact with the shaft of the belt drive roller.
- Before working on equipment, de-energize electrical power, lock and tag the visual disconnect with your lock and tag, and block parts that can move against motion.
- Keep guards securely in place while working around conveyor drives.
- When working around moving machine parts, avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing such as shirts or jackets with hoods. Secure ends of sleeves and pant legs, as well as loose items such as personal light cords.
- Guard shaft ends such as protruding bolts, keyways or couplings.
- Establish policies and procedures for conducting specific tasks on belt conveyors.
- Train all employees thoroughly on the dangers of working or traveling around moving conveyor belts and their associated components,
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).