On June 2, 2021, a 26-year-old section foreman with five years of mining experience at an underground mine with 462 employees* was pinned against a continuous mining machine by a piece of rib. The piece fell while he was installing a rib bolt with the machine mounted rib drill.
Best Practices:
- Support loose roof and rib material adequately or scale loose material from a safe location before working or traveling in an area.
- Examine the roof, face and ribs immediately before starting work in an area and throughout the shift as conditions warrant.
- Take additional safety precautions when mining heights increase and in areas where mine conditions change.
- Train miners to recognize roof and rib hazards and to stop work in the area until the hazards are corrected.
Additional Information:
This is the 13th fatality reported in 2021, and the first classified as “Fall of Face, Rib, Side or Highwall” (*details added by safeminers.com from MSHA data.)
Click here for: Preliminary Report (pdf), Final Report (pdf).