Employee walked up to the 7-2C header to inspect wipers. The victim was on an elevated catwalk at discharge of the 7-2B conveyor belt to examine the belt wiper. He fell off the end of catwalk on 7-2B belt. Employee was caught between the skirt and the top belt resulting in a fatal injury.
Walter Energy IncorporatedController
- Fatalities
- 23
- Total incidents
- 2,359
- Mines on record
- 18
- Years on record
- 2000–2016
Safety benchmark
Recorded fatalities relative to other controllers with a fatal MSHA history. Percentile is computed across the 590 controllers with at least one recorded fatality.
More recorded fatalities than 99% of controllers on file.
Position when controllers are sorted by recorded fatalities.
Industry mean: 2.0 fatalities per fatal-history controller.
- Walter Energy Incorporatedthis controller23fatal2,359 total
- James River Coal Company12fatal2,608 total
- Newmont Corporation10fatal2,157 total
- Patriot Coal Corporation7fatal2,341 total
- ACNR Holdings, Inc3fatal2,096 total
Methodology: percentile and rank computed across MSHA controllers with at least one recorded fatality. Industry mean is the average across that same population. Peers are sampled by closest total-incident count, regardless of fatality outcome.
Top causes
- SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON1 fatality · 200 non-fatal
- IGNITION OR EXPLOSION OF GAS OR DUST1 fatality · 80 non-fatal
- POWERED HAULAGE1 fatality · 63 non-fatal
- OTHER1 fatality · 14 non-fatal
- HANDLING OF MATERIALS285 non-fatal
- HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)102 non-fatal
Incident timeline
Operators under this controller
Mines on record
- Choctaw MineAL
- North River MineAL
- No 4 MineAL
- No 7 MineAL
- Central ShopAL
- Central SupplyAL
- East Brookwood MineAL
- Howton MineAL
- Highway 59 Mine No. 1AL
- Swann's CrossingAL
- Maple Eagle No. 1 MineWV
- Maple Eagle Preparation PlantWV
- Sycamore Surface MineWV
- Birch River Surface Mine No. 1WV
- Black Pearl Underground MineWV
- Cowen LoadoutWV
Fatalities under this controller
23 recordedEmployee was climbing up ladder onto Rock Truck when his feet slipped out from under him causing him to fall to the ground.*** Note added Employee died 12/28/12 from complications related to this injury per fatal ruling/notification on 6/27/13 from MSHA.
The Service Truck Operator was refueling a drill rig when an ignition from an unknown source resulted in fatal burns.
Employee was traveling #2 Longwall Bleeders and when he did not check in, we sent someone in to look for him. He was found unresponsive with no vital signs. The cause of death is still being investigated.