While the US Mine Safety and Health Administration did not return details on the incident to ILN by press time, a spokesperson did tell local newspaper the Dominion Post that the miner was installing a roof bolt when a piece of rock fell and struck him on the shoulder and ankle.
After being struck, the operator fell forward and hit his head on the machine. The size of the fallen rock was not made available.
West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training spokesperson Leslie Fitzwater declined to identify the worker, but told ILN that the miner complained of shoulder pain after the event and that, contrary to some reports, the male employee was conscious during the entire ordeal.
Both state and federal officials are now evaluating the incident.
Officials from Patriot Coal did not respond to an ILN request for details and comment.
The federal operation was suspended and reopened on two occasions in February and March after recording potentially adverse atmospheric conditions in an abandoned section.
The union-represented longwall and room and pillar mine extracts from the Pittsburgh seam under an average seam height of 7 feet.
In another incident, a contract worker conducting demolition work on a closed preparation plant was injured Tuesday afternoon after a portion of the building fell onto the manlift where he was working.
A US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesperson told ILN that the incident, which occurred at about 2.10pm local time at Kingwood Mining’s Whitetail preparation facility, involved an unidentified worker who was cutting an I-beam from a manlift machine when part of the structure fell on top of the lift and struck him on the head.
“The worker received 12 stitches to his forehead and was released,” the agency official said, noting that the worker anticipated returning to work Wednesday.
MSHA said the demolition work for the Whitetail preparation facility was being performed by Brayman Construction.
“MSHA is currently evaluating whether the agency has jurisdiction over the demolition work being conducted at this abandoned coal preparation plant,” the spokesperson said.
State Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training spokesperson Leslie Fitzwater said the agency would not count the injury as a mining injury because the operation was closed and no longer in its system, and could provide no further details.
The facility, owned by Alpha Natural Resources, was closed in February 2009 along with the mine it served.
That operation’s permanent idle was related to geologic and roof conditions which the company said made the coal “unmineable”
