COAL MINE FATALITY - On Monday, March 11, 1996, two utility men, working
from the top of the man cage, were chipping and removing ice accumulations inside a shaft.
The ice accumulations had been interfering with the safe operation of the man cage. The two
utility men removed ice from half of the diameter of the shaft and were at the 420-foot level
when two other miners who had been removing ice earlier, called on the man cage phone and
informed the utility men that they were ready to replace them at the work. One of the utility
men went to the cage controls to hoist the cage to the surface, while the other began to store
tools. A large piece of ice, from above, suddenly fell down the shaft and struck the two
miners. One of the miners received fatal injuries.
This is the ninth coal mine fatality in 1996. As of March 11 last year there had been 3
fatalities. This death is the first classified as FALL OF MATERIAL in 1996.
Line drawing of the accident scene
For more information: 
MSHA's Fatal Accident Investigation Report [FTL96C09]
