COAL MINE FATALITY - On Wednesday, August 23, 1995, at about 10:20 p.m., a shuttle car operator was crushed between the boom end of the shuttle car he was operating and an approaching scoop. The shuttle car operator was returning from the face with a load of coal, when the shuttle car he was operating lost all electrical power. Stopping about two feet from a check curtain installed across the haulage entry, the shuttle car operator walked to the boom end (outby end) of the shuttle car and was believed to have been looking at the cable reel area of the machine with his back to the check curtain. A scoop was being driven across the section and as it was driven through the check curtain, the battery end of the scoop struck the shuttle car crushing the shuttle car operator.
This is the 26th coal mine fatality in 1995. As of August 23 last year there had been 32 fatalities. This death is the tenth classified as POWERED HAULAGE in 1995.
Line drawing of the accident scene
For more information:
MSHA's Fatal Accident Investigation Report [FTL95C26]
