In the 28-page report stemming from the deaths of Michael Wilt, 38, and Dale Jones, 51, at the Tri-Star Job No. 3 highwall mine, the agency determined that a collection of errors resulted in the incident.
First, it said, the mine’s roof control plan did not sufficiently address the inherent issues of the Sewickley and Pittsburgh coal seams from which the highwall mined. MSHA received an amended plan from Tri-Star on June 12.
The daily examination program and safety and training protocols in use at the operation were also cited by MSHA in its review of the accident. New programs were ordered in both cases.
The fatalities occurred because the ground control plan did not adequately address highwall conditions, obvious hazards were allowed to exist, and an examination was inadequate, the agency said in the report.
“Severe subsidence above both the Sewickley and Pittsburgh coal seams, resulting from extensive underground mining, caused the highwall to be extremely fractured,” MSHA said.
“The segment of the highwall that failed was oriented nearly parallel to a well developed joint set. The combination of these factors resulted in a very unstable highwall and resulted in the highwall failure.”
A series of orders and one citation was issued to Tri-Star as part of the investigation. For full details, see http://www.msha.gov/Fatals/2007/ftl07c0506.pdf.
