Best Practices

Ensure, by signal or other means, that all persons are clear before moving equipment.

When approaching large mobile equipment, do not proceed until you make eye contact with, or obtain approval from, the equipment operator.

Minimize situations where smaller vehicles need to approach large haul trucks (e.g., arrange for haul truck drivers to have supplies available at the pre-shift meeting place, rather than having supplies delivered to the truck).

Do not park smaller vehicles in a large truck's potential path of movement.

Equip smaller vehicles with flags or strobe lights, positioned high enough to be seen from the cabs of haulage trucks.

Equip larger vehicles with cameras to monitor blind spots and ensure that they are properly used (refer to http://www.msha.gov/Accident_Prevention/NewTechnologies/Initiatives/cameras/cameras.htm).

Stagger the times that vehicles leave assembly areas and separate the parking and travel areas for larger and smaller vehicles.

	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.

These are the 25^th and 26^th fatalities reported in calendar year 2003 in the coal mining industry. As of the accident date in 2002, there were 22 fatalities reported in the coal mining industry. These are the eighth and ninth fatalities classified as powered haulage in 2003. There were seven fatalities classified as powered haulage at this time in 2002.