Investigators: Emergency Stop Malfunction on Continuous Miner Caused Fatality, W. Va.
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State investigators say the emergency stop on a mining machine wasn’t functioning when a 32-year-old miner was killed at a southern West Virginia mine in June.
The Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training reports the incident at Rockwell Mining LLC’s Gateway Eagle Mine fatally injured Rodney S. Osborne of Artie, West Virginia, as he worked alone.
He was repositioning a continuous miner, a machine with a rotating steel drum used to extract coal.
The state office concludes the emergency stop override was engaged, based on information downloaded from the safety system.
Investigators say Osborne was standing in a restricted zone alongside the cutter head, which pinned him against an underground pillar.
Source: Associated Press
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