The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) reported that on Nov. 3, a 44-year-old shift supervisor with three years of experience was killed when a loaded Caterpillar 785B haul truck ran over her pickup truck at the crusher site.
This is the 15th fatality reported in calendar year 2018 in metal and nonmetal mining. As of this date in 2017, there were 12 fatalities reported in metal and nonmetal mining. This is the seventh Powered Haulage fatality in metal and nonmetal mining in 2018. There were six Powered Haulage fatalities during the same period in 2017.
MSHA has made the prevention of powered haulage accidents a priority. Please see more information at here.
MSHA recommends the following best practices to avoid this type of accident:
- Communicate and verify with all equipment operators your planned movements and location upon entering a work area.
- Ensure all persons are trained to recognize workplace hazards. Specifically, train equipment operators on the limited visibility and blind spot areas that are inherent to the operation of large equipment. Do not drive or park smaller vehicles in mobile equipment’s potential path of movement.
- Instruct all operators on the importance of using flags or strobe lights on the cabs of their vehicles to make haulage truck operators aware of their location.
- Install and maintain collision avoidance/warning technologies on mobile equipment.