A broken shut-off lever and a faulty alarm system led to the death of a Massey Energy miner who fell from a conveyor belt in December, federal investigators have concluded.
A broken shut-off lever and a faulty alarm system led to the death of a Massey Energy miner who fell from a conveyor belt in December, federal investigators have concluded.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Massey's Mammoth Coal unit with three serious violations related to the death of David Neal at the company's No. 130 Mine in eastern Kanawha County.
Neal, 57, of Dixie, was lying on the over-ground conveyor belt replacing rollers when the belt started unexpectedly.
Neal was carried nearly 50 feet along the belt, hitting several cross-support beams along the way. He fell about 40 feet onto a frozen coal pile below, investigators found. He died 10 days after the Dec. 4, 2007, incident.
Massey's Mammoth Coal was previously cited by state officials with four alleged mine safety violations related to the death, according to a report issued in March.
MSHA investigators finalized their report in mid-April and made the document public Wednesday morning.
Federal inspectors concluded the accident occurred because the conveyor belt circuit breaker was not de-energized, the victim was not wearing fall protection, and an alarm to warn workers that the belt was starting could not be heard at the spot where Neal was working.
The MSHA report stated that a controller box on the conveyor belt "has a grey handle which can be turned to open the circuit breaker, disconnecting electrical power.
A broken shut-off lever and a faulty alarm system led to the death of a Massey Energy miner who fell from a conveyor belt in December, federal investigators have concluded.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Massey's Mammoth Coal unit with three serious violations related to the death of David Neal at the company's No. 130 Mine in eastern Kanawha County.
Neal, 57, of Dixie, was lying on the over-ground conveyor belt replacing rollers when the belt started unexpectedly.
Neal was carried nearly 50 feet along the belt, hitting several cross-support beams along the way. He fell about 40 feet onto a frozen coal pile below, investigators found. He died 10 days after the Dec. 4, 2007, incident.
Massey's Mammoth Coal was previously cited by state officials with four alleged mine safety violations related to the death, according to a report issued in March.
MSHA investigators finalized their report in mid-April and made the document public Wednesday morning.
Federal inspectors concluded the accident occurred because the conveyor belt circuit breaker was not de-energized, the victim was not wearing fall protection, and an alarm to warn workers that the belt was starting could not be heard at the spot where Neal was working.
The MSHA report stated that a controller box on the conveyor belt "has a grey handle which can be turned to open the circuit breaker, disconnecting electrical power.
"The handle is constructed to facilitate a lock to physically keep the system de-energized during mechanical or electrical repairs," the MSHA report said.
But MSHA investigators found that the circuit-breaker handle was broken, "rendering it useless for its intended purpose."
MSHA also found that a 10-second belt start-up alarm was not loud enough to hear from the location Neal was working. A second, six-second alarm was broken, MSHA found.
MSHA also concluded that "although the fatal fall resulted from the conveyor start-up, appropriate fall protection equipment was not used where there was a danger of falling.
"An effective procedure was not in place to assure that fall protection would be used where a falling hazard existed," the MSHA report said.
Fines for the three citations issued by MSHA have not yet been set.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.
