The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) reported that on Oct. 19, an excavator’s bucket struck a plant operator who was standing on the cross beam of a grizzly hopper screen at Swayback Quarry, Larimer, Colo.
This was the 22nd fatality reported in 2020, and the seventh classified as “Machinery.”
MSHA recommends the following best practices to avoid this type of accident:
- Never swing buckets over work areas or operator’s compartments.
- Maintain communication between equipment operators and miners on the ground.
- Maintain control of equipment while it is in operation.
- Train miners to safely perform their tasks.
MSHA also reported in a reclassification that on Aug. 21, a truck driver at Martin Marietta Materials’ Moore Quarry, Pocahontas, Iowa, sustained fatal head injuries while he was deploying the automatic tarp on his fifth-wheel side-dump trailer. This was the sixth fatality classified as “Machinery” for 2020.
MSHA recommends the following best practices to avoid this type of accident:
- Install and use constant pressure electrical switches to deploy/retract automatic trailer tarps.
- Inspect and maintain tarping systems routinely to ensure tarping systems function properly.
- Install signs warning of the hazard of standing near trailers while automatic tarps are deployed/retracted.
- Train miners on proper tarping techniques to understand the hazards associated with the work being performed.