Four dead in four days

Four miners killed in four days. That’s the bold headline in a MSHA safety alert poster, which includes a checklist of best practices on how the mining community can avoid these tragedies. While these deaths in the last four days of October did not occur at aggregate operations, they still serve as a reminder of the dangers all miners face on a daily basis. In fact, of the four deaths that occurred at metal/nonmetal mines in the third quarter of this year, ending Sept. 30, three did happen at aggregate operations. One miner was killed at a sand and gravel operation when he accessed an elevated platform near an unguarded head pulley and became entangled in the operating conveyor system. Another miner was killed at a portable sand and gravel operation when he opened the 480-volt feeder box at the motor control center, started to remove the leads and received a fatal shock. And yet another miner was killed at a sand and gravel operation when he was changing a screen in the plant and fell about 56 ft. He was standing on a steel rail that had been placed between the midrail of the protective rail surrounding the screen deck work platform and the screen structure. Take some time to review MSHA’s preventative recommendations regarding fatal accidents.