Electrician Howard Harris, 54, was gathering tools to troubleshoot a continuous miner breaker that had been continuously tripped‚ when he fell onto the moving belt and was dragged about 10 to 15 feet to a mobile bridge carrier dolly attached to a low-low belt.

Harris was a 26-year mining veteran and had been at Randolph County's Pleasant Hill Mine, owned by Carter Roag Coal, for two weeks.

In hopes of preventing similar incidents, the agency released a list of best practices for operations:

Ensure that the low-low belt is not in motion before exiting the mobile bridge operator's compartment when adjacent to the low-low belt structure;

Do not work or travel along the sides of the low-low belt when the mobile bridge dolly and belt are in motion;

Install and maintain warning signs in the adjacent crosscuts and on the inby and outby ends of the low-low belt structure to prohibit miners from entering the area while the belt is in motion;

Install and maintain on/off switches in safe locations along both sides of the low-low belt and in the adjacent outby crosscuts; and

Install an audible and visual warning system to warn persons the conveyor belt will be started.

MSHA has requested any additional suggestions to remedy such situations in the future. Input can be submitted via the agency's website, citing the fatality number and year.

The miner's death was the 25th this year to date, versus 41 at this time last year. Classified as Powered Haulage by the agency, it is the second of the type this year.

The state of West Virginia currently has seven fatalities on its record, of which this was the sixth.