According to the Associated Press, the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training concluded that Asa Fitzpatrick, 63, was killed March 13 at Newtown Energy’s Peerless Rachel operation in Boone County because of the operator’s unsafe procedures for rib bolt installations.
Fitzpatrick, a 40-year mining veteran, was crushed by a rock approximately 6 feet long by 5.5 feet wide and about 5 inches thick while installing a rib bolt on the right side of the number 8 right crosscut on the No. 1 section.
The WVOMHST said in the report that bolters walking under unsupported roof while inserting glue and rib bolts into holes was a common practice, and that the practice placed the operator partially in the unsupported area.
“This is a violation of a health and safety statute [and] is of a serious nature and involved in a fatality.”
Patriot did not release a public statement on the report’s release Tuesday.
Fitzpatrick’s death was the fifth in West Virginia this year and the seventh of nine so far in the US.
MSHA stressed in its own report in March that all mining operations should conduct frequent and adequate examinations of the roof, face, and ribs and be alert for changing conditions at all times.
“When hazardous conditions are detected, danger off access to the area until it is made safe for work and travel,” the agency said.
It also spotlighted the importance of automated temporary roof support systems on all roof bolting machines, and that they be maintained in good working condition, and that mines must ensure to always follow their respective approved roof control plans while regularly determining their suitability for the geologic conditions encountered at the mine.
“If conditions change and cause the plan to no longer be suitable, the plan must be revised to provide adequate support for the control of the roof, face, and ribs,” officials said.
According to MSHA data, the Peerless Rachel bituminous complex produced 500,000 tons of coal in 2012 with a staff of 138 workers working more than 301,000 man hours.
No fatal or contractor fatalities have been recorded at the operation since at least 2002, and in 2012 the mine reported three non-fatal days lost injuries to operators and one NFDL contractor injury.
