COAL MINE FATALITY - On Friday, January 21, 2000, a continuous mining machine operator was fatally injured when he came in contact with the ripper head of the continuous mining machine while it was in motion. While there were no eye witnesses to the accident, it was reported that the victim had positioned himself in front of the continuous mining machine in order to change bits. At the time of the accident the victim had the machine's remote control box in his possession.

Best Practices

All power circuits and electrical equipment shall be de-energized before any work is done on such circuits and equipment.

All areas where persons are required to work or travel should be kept free of tripping and stumbling hazards.

Always make sure that all persons, including yourself, are in a safe location before energizing any equipment.

	Submit your own suggestion for a remedy to prevent this type of accident in the future. Please specify if you wish your submission to be anonymous or whether your name may be used. Please include the year of the fatality and the fatality number.

This is the first fatality reported in calendar year 2000 in the coal mining industry. As of this date in 1999, there were two fatalities.