US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesperson Amy Louviere told ILN that the agency’s preliminary evaluation was that the unnamed individual had been attaching a tow chain to the truck when the dozer rolled backwards.
“Reportedly, the blade of the dozer was not lowered onto the pavement prior to the victim exiting the dozer, and it appears the dozer drifted backwards, and crushed the victim between the frame of the dozer and the frame of the water truck,” she said.
The incident occurred at a gas well plugging operation on the minesite. Louviere confirmed the drill rig was owned by CSI Contracting, the bulldozer owned by 18 Karat and the water truck owned by Burns Drilling and Excavating.
A 103j order was issued by MSHA, and federal investigators are now evaluating the scene at the minesite.
The fatality is the second in the US so far in 2011. Both deaths have occurred in West Virginia.
