The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has released its final report into a fatal underground mining accident from last summer in Raleigh County.
Scoop operator Greg Byers, 43, was killed at the Beckley Pocahontas Mine on July 31, 2012 when he was caught between the coal rib and the battery-powered scoop he was operating.
Federal investigators say Byers was at a battery charging station when another scoop operator, traveling in reverse, hit Byers’ machine, pinning him between the scoop’s canopy and coal rib.
MSHA blames the management of the Beckley Pocahontas Mine for constructing a battery charging station that didn’t leave enough room for a scoop to park there without being in the section’s roadway. MSHA also says bags of rock dust were stacked up on the back of the scoop machine that was in reverse giving the operator only an 8-inch section to look through as he backed the machine up.
MSHA issued three citations to the mine owner, ICG Beckley.
Investigators did say the miners involved in the fatal accident had up-to-date training.
Read MSHA’s investigative report here.