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COAL MINE FATALITY - On Wednesday, October 18, a shovel operator was fatally injured while operating a Hitachi 3500 shovel. The shovel was being used to load overburden into haulage trucks, when the two cap screws securing an end plate of the hydraulic control circuit to a hydraulic control adjacent to the operator compartment failed. The failure resulted in an internal component of the control to be forcefully propelled through a side window of the operator compartment, striking the shovel operator in the head, inflicting fatal injuries.

This is the 35th coal mine fatality in 1995. As of October 18 last year there had been 34 fatalities. This death is the sixth classified as MACHINERY in 1995.

Line drawing of the accident scene

For more information:
Fatal Alert Bulletin Icon MSHA's Fatal Accident Investigation Report [FTL95C35]