Employee was in dump truck waiting to be loaded with bulk salt from under 150 ton bin to transfer it to the stockpile pad on Cargill Deicing property. He was being loaded with salt when the brackets from the bin gave way and landed on the cab of his truck pinning him inside.
Hoist motor has a burning smell. Currently down for maintenance.
#3 Hoist was having some electrical problems, so crew was troubleshooting it, we still had our #4 and #2 for escapeways. It ended up being 2 bad fuses. and was repaired
Crew had started shift, they were heading out to the panels they passed the shop, usually lights are on, noticed they couldn't see any light and turned around, saw it was smoke blocking the lights, started evac procedures
Electrical fault on our #4 Hoist. Trouble shooting determined there was crossover power from 480v to 20v that burnt up a circuit board.
Inconsistent noise coming from motor area of #3 hoist. Appears that the blower fan mounts were loose. AAI is coming in to do an in depth vibration inspection.
This was a power outage from our electricity supplier NYSEG. Power went out to underground and the decision was make to initiate a controlled evacuation at 8:38pm. all personnel brought to surface in under an hour.
Lower limit switch was not functioning properly. It was diagnosed to be faulty, corroded, moisture got inside the box. It was replaced with a new switch.
Bell line communication system was down due to corroded wire, shorting out. Electrician repaired and steps taken to prevent reoccurrence.
When 2nd shift came to surface the gate switch did not release and when the gate was opened the latch was found damaged therefor making the switch inoperable.
The #4 hoist operator noticed that the cable for the back up bell line communication system had become detached and spooled up on the top of the cage.
'Dog' braking system cammed over and wedged in the dog boxes while performing test trips.
Mine signal switch was discovered to be faulty, equipment was cleaned and replaced, test trips were done, travel resumed within 50 minutes of equipt. malfunction discovery.
Scheduled replacement of the north guides in the #3 hoist headframe was occurring. The replacement was not completed by the end of the shift, thus making #3 not usable until installation could be finished the next day. #4 and #2 hoists were still available. #3 was back in service on 10/22/23 at 6pm.
Scheduled replacement of the south guides in the #3 hoist headframe was occurring. The replacement could not be completed by then end of shift, thus making #3 not usable until install could be finished the next day. #4 and #2 hoists were still available. #3 was back in service on 10/15/23 at 3:30pm.
Output on system circuit received and electrical arc that damaged this particular output.
Power went out on surface which affected the hoist and power undergound at 4:15pm, Evac was started 4:30, power came back on at 5:20, test trips were done and operations resumed. Power outage due to storms knocking out NYSEG service.
While attempting to raise the #4 cage to surface, the electrical breaker for the charging circuit on the #4 hoist drive failed.
#3 hoist stopped due to a brake fault. The solenoid connector shorted out on one of the brake manifolds. Upon investigation it was found that in the PLC board, a rack output had shorted out which led to the shorted out solenoid connector.
Employee was using a knife to cut mesh. Employee was cutting toward themselves and slipped, causing the knife to penetrate their right thigh leading to a laceration. Employee received 2 stitches to close the wound.
2 employees were lifting a 13' long section of 6"" wide rectangular steel tubing in order to set it onto a dolly. Employee one lost their grip and dropped their end. The other end then pinched employees left middle finger between the edge of the steel and concrete floor causing a nondisplaced fracture of distal phalanx of left middle finger.
Employee was setting the parking brake on a rail car. As EE tightened the brake EE felt a pop in EE's left arm. Employee was diagnosed with a tricep strain.
While performing a shaft inspection in #3 shaft, a loose wall bracket was identified. It was determined that it needed to be replaced. A courtesy call was made to MSHA as a notification.
A call was made to MSHA's hotline due to the thought that the #3 hoist brakes were not working properly. This call was made by mistake due to a misunderstanding. MSHA arrived on site on 9/6 to better understand the situation and had no findings.
On 8/8/22 an employee was attempting to open the landing gate at #4. They were trying to pull up on the latch with no success. They felt something pull/ strain in their back/shoulder area. The employee was sought medical treatment on 8/24/2022 and was prescribed physical therapy.
The west hydraulic brake for the #3 hoist was found to be out of spec during the static brake test. The east hydraulic brake and pinion brake were still functional though. MSHA was notified that the hoist was down bc of this but due to redundant braking mechanisms, the hoist was not actually down and there was no need to notify MSHA.
On 7/24 employee was helping with a belt move. Employee was pulling belt when they felt a pop in their left forearm near the elbow. On 8/6 the employee was pulling brattice curtain when they felt more pain in their forearm/elbow. On 9/6 during a visit to the clinic the employee was advised to begin physical therapy.
While performing a shaft inspection, the hoist tripped out on a drive fault. The cage was lowered to the bottom using the back up generator, then troubleshooting began. It was found that 2 of the SCRs were bad and were therefore replaced.
Employee was leveling a tail pulley by placing shims under one foot to level it while another employee lifted the foot with a skid steer bucket. The skid steer operator lowered the foot pinching the employees thumb between the foot and wood blocking. This fractured the employees thumb.
During a routine inspection an employee noticed a roof fall that appeared to have happened several weeks earlier in the Unit 80 panel within an area that was previously bermed off and blocked from personnel travel. The area was inspected the next day with an MSHA official who had no immediate concerns.
While chipping buildup in #3 shaft a small chunk of salt fell to the bottom of the shaft and pulled a wire out of a proximity switch on the way down. This caused the hoist to kick out and not run properly until the wire was repaired.
Employee was crouching down in order to grease a tail pulley. As they crouched down they felt a pop in their back and sharp pain. Employee diagnosed with a pulled back muscle.
Fuse in drive cabinet blew for #2 hoist, evac called, everyone out of mine. Fuse was replaced, hoist back up and operating at 12:00am
Employee was performing rehab work to the roof in U86 by running a Smag tram scaler. While doing so, a portion of the roof fell next to the machine and partially onto the machine. There was no injury.
While chairing the #3 cage during the weekly preventative maintenance inspection, the dogging mechanism cammed too far in the hour glass guides causing it to bend. The Dog could not be released and therefore #3 hoist became inoperable until the dog was replaced.
Employee was exiting the cab of a pay loader during a snowstorm. While turning around in order to descend the ladder, they slipped and fell to the ground below. The employee fell on their feet but fractured their right fibula.
Employee was installing a gate with another employee. The employee lifted one end of the gate and was holding it up while another employee was installing the hinge pins. The gate fell out of the hinges causing the gate to fall, this caused the employee holding it to twist their lower back.
Employee was driving a lube truck in a tramway underground. They hit a bump causing the top of their hard hat to hit the FOPS of the cab. This caused the employee to have neck pain. The employee was taken to the clinic and diagnosed with a cervical strain.
Contractor was servicing the brake pump on the hoist instead of the pump for the thruster brake. Thruster brake has its own brake pump, test trips rectified the problem. Evac called off before bringing people out of the mine.
An employee was in the process of shoveling some spilled salt beneath a conveyor belt transfer. While pushing a shovel through the salt, they felt a sharp pain in their lower back. The pain made it difficult to maneuver and the employee decided they needed to seek medical attention.
Test trip was being done, track limit exceeded, NIDEC was on site to diagnose, troubleshoot and change out motor encoder and adjust parameters on drive, #3 hoist back up and running within 1.5 hours
An employee was in a high lift pulling wire vertically from a spool located at ground level. After pulling the wire, the employee felt that their left shoulder was sore. A week later the pain had gotten worse, making the employee want to have their shoulder examined.
Power brown out from NYSEG power supply, they were updating their system and power to our local grid was affected. #3 skip kicked out, reset, men brought to surface, ran test trips, all tested good.
#1 salt production skip kicked out, cage stuck. Inspection reveled pin was missing that held safety dog to skip. Dog did deploy correctly to stop cage travel as it should have.
#3 hoist tripped and would not reset because the west brake was not functioning properly. Through troubleshooting it was found that the west brake switch plunger was stuck in the open position.
While running the #3 hoist, the hoist tripped out. A magnet proximity switch was found to have shorted out within #3 shaft 90' below the collar.
The designated person called for the cage to pick the people up from the work deck. The designated person failed to notify the hoist person the exact location of the work deck while it was on approach. Therefore causing an employee to be in line of the landing area, the bottom of the cage brushed EE and pushed IE away from landing area.
A guide wheel on the #3 mancage broke, therefore the #3 hoist was down until repairs were completed. Upon completion of repairs, a shaft inspection was performed to ensure everything was in order and functioning properly.
Employee was using a drill press to drill out a hole larger in a bearing housing. The bearing housing was in a vice on the drill press table. The bit caught in the hole and pulled the housing out of the vice, striking the employees thumb causing a laceration, resulting in 4 stitches.
#3 Hoist skip and gate proximity switch had malfunctioned. Evac all ee's out #2, all out safely. Repairs completed at 3:15pm.
Employee was mounting troughing rollers on belt structure. While tightening one side of a trougher, the opposite side slid off the structure causing it to swing down and hit the employee on the right leg causing a laceration.
A miner was working in the #1 production shaft. While being tied off to a divider, the employee stepped back onto the workdeck and radioed the hoist operator to go up. The employee forgot to transfer the lanyard from the divider to the work deck and was subsequently pulled off the work deck by the lanyard and landed on the divider fracturing a leg.
Test trip of back up generator being performed, tranformer that powers hoist shorted out. Skip was surface level. There were zero men aboard the skip.
Brake transducer, manifold failed. Manufacturer called to diagnose, changed out while evac took place out of the #2 skip. All miners were accounted for on surface at 4:40pm. 4:45pm #3 was back up and running, test trips performed, lowering of men back into mine was resumed.
Test trips of #2 resulted in multiple trip out of skip. #2 brought to surface, damage to bonnet discovered. Falling debris struck top of #2 causing damage. Bonnet and rope repaired, test trips passed, shaft inspected. NO injuries.
Employee in hi-lift, booming down was struck in the back of the neck by 3/4"" socket that fell from above.
Test trip was planned for hoist on generator power. Power was switched over and 15kv 480-280 transformer arced. This rendered the #3 hoist inop. MSHA was called and controlled evac took place out the #2 skip
Employee was working in #1 shaft, standing on the work deck for #2 hoist. A piece of rock was falling down the shaft and ricocheted off a divider into the work deck. The rock landed on top of an employees hard hat causing a laceration to the top of the employees head.
Employee was stepping off the #2 chippy work deck onto the landing at #1 shaft when a piece of salt fell and hit them on the right shoulder. The employee finished the shift and 2 weeks later wanted to get their shoulder evaluated.
Faulty brake accumulator, low on charge, recharged to 1500 per manu. specs. Refilled oil, test trips, static brake test, all tested okay. Returned to service at 3:10pm. Performed controlled evac. All miners evac safely.
Installing motor in fan housing, using scaling bar to align the shaft through the opening of the fan housing. ee dropped key from keyway, went to pick up, pulled hand through the output shaft, hand slid on greased shaft and ran fingers across keyway cutting 2 fingers
Employee was working on a scaler. At some point the employee's forearm contacted a sharp object on the machine. As the employee started to remove their gloves and suit, they discovered a cut on the inside of their forearm. The employee called for assistance and the cut was cleaned up, wrapped in gauze and sent for medical evaluation.
Skip kicked out at 900ft breaker tripped. Wire that was not in use shorted out air pressure switch. Wire unhooked, capped off. Ran test trips and skip was back online at 3:00pm. No one was on the skip at the time.
Skip parked at landing (estop engaged), hydraulic pumps started. The hoist operator saw that faults came up & wouldn't clear. We troubleshot, but no fix. Called our elec. eng. & manufacturer. Manufacturer ran troubleshooting but wouldn't reset. Called MSHA at 615pm, started evacuation. Manufacturer got online & figured out what breaker was tripped, we reset, ran test trips, fixed.
Power had dropped to portion of the mine. Upon investigation it was found that a transformer had gotten hot and tripped out the power. It was hot, there was smoke, coils were glowing, but not on fire. It was decided to do a controlled evac. MSHA was called. Power on surface to mine was shut down. Power UG was diverted. Power was restored to entire mine mid morning on 11/19/2019.
An Matco Electric contractor was using a post pounder to drive rebar into the ground at the #4 shaft location. Upon lifting the post pounder up, the EE lifted to high causing the rebar to come outside the pounder. When the contractor came down with the pounder the rebar pinched their left thumb between the handle and the top of the rebar. Broken bone/stitches to thumb.
While drilling in Unit 12, a small pocket of methane was encountered. This lead to a reading above 2 ppm at the end of a drain hose from the drill. The methane cleared from the area within seconds, readings taken in the surrounding area were non-detectable.
On August 30th we evacuated the mine due to a malfunction on the #3 cage chairing mechanism. While chairing the cage, one of the dogs went over center and bound in the dog box. There is a brass guide on the back of the dog that bent when the cage was unchaired. We then initiated a controlled evacuation of personnel from the mine via the #2 hoist.
While beginning test trips for 2nd shift, the hoist encoder reset the cage location to 0 while the cage was near the bottom of the shaft. The encoder was found to be working properly once reset.
#3 hoist unexpectedly stopped. The solenoid valve for the West pinion brake lost power causing brakes to engage. An electrical short in the power connection to the solenoid valve caused the failure.
A contractor received a laceration to the back of their hand when their 1 & 13/16"" wrench slipped off of a nut. This resulting in their gloved hand striking a threaded stud nearby. The contractor required stitches for the cut.
The DC Loop contactor on the #3 hoist failed due to an electrical fault that could not be repaired within 30 minutes. Since the #3 hoist was not operable during that time, there was not 2 means of egress and the mine was evacuated.
A power outage to Lansing Township, which included the mine, occurred. During a controlled evacuation of the mine, the generator for #3 hoist had trouble starting and people began to evacuate through #2. The generator was able to be restarted, however it took longer than 30 minutes.
While loading the face with explosives the air compressor on the powder trailer unexpectantly caught fire. The nearby employees quickly shut off the tractor powering the compressor and made the decision, with their supervisor, to evacuate the mine.
The a phase 13.8kV primary with 4160V secondary transformer shorted in the coils. This caused a small fire which was extinguished within minutes. The a phase and b phase coils were destroyed.
The 12 Silicon Controlled Rectifiers for the #3 hoist failed due to age and usage over time. New units were on hand that we were able to replace these with. It took time troubleshooting the hoists electrical fault to determine the SCRs were the issue.
The hoist would not reset to stay running. Troubleshooting began and it was eventually found that there was no control power to the hoist motor contactor. Troubleshooting found that the base of the drive gave power to the contactor and by replacing the drive base, the problem was fixed.
Hoist drive fault that operator was unable to clear. Drive fault was only able to clear by cycling power to the drive. Drive processor board was replaced to original which allowed operator to clear faults without cycling power to drive.
#3 hoist load cells lost calibration during test trip that started at 5:30am. Troubleshooting began at 5:56am. GL Tiley was contacted via phone while third shift was evacuating the mine with the emergency hoist. Load cells were re-calibrated at the right values and another test trip was performed with success. First shift went down at 8:05am.
Hoist was bringing employee out of mine when it tripped out. Troubleshooting began, Tiley was contacted & asked us to try connections on control board. Switched from fiber to ethernet connection, communication was reestablished & hoist was able to be reset, employee was brought to surface. Testing continued, ran full test trip, everything tested ok.
#3 hoist tripped out and would not move from the collar position. Cycling power to the drive was needed in order to get the hoist to move. The drive was returned to all original parts following the changes that had been made the night prior while troubleshooting. The hoist operated normally following the changes.
Employee was preparing to send supplies underground via the #3 hoist. As soon as the operator moved the hoist's joystick to send the cage underground the hoist tripped out. Shortly after this MSHA was notified. After several hours of troubleshooting it was found that there was a broken lug on the DC loop breaker.
Sending supplies into the mine via the #3 cage w/ 5 ton overhead hoist. The material sled was halfway out of the cage at the landing when the springs around the chain/hook assembly became entangled in the hook causing the chain to not properly pass through the hook. The sled could not be freed initially causing the #3 hoist to be inoperable.
Our facility experienced a power surge causing the power to trip in areas underground and on surface. The Tiley Brake Regulator (TBR) unit in #1 hoist tripped at this time. This caused the #1 hoist to be down for 30+ minutes until it could be reset. The unit was reset and the hoist was running again by 1:45am.
Hoist operator was hoisting in auto when the hoist stopped with the South skip loaded at the bottom bc of a brake fault. The operator reset the fault and attempted to lower the loaded skip. After several attempts the operator called for help. It was found that the operator did not realize that the South was in the bottom and was attempting to go the wrong direction.
While # 3 hoist operator was doing a full test trip, the load cell system failed to work. GL Tiley was called as well as MSHA. After investigation, GL Tiley raised the set point of the system up to 7,800 lbs and achieved the load cell fault every time. #3 was back up and running at 12:52am (3/9/17). No evacuation because no one was in the mine at the time of this incident.
During #3 hoist test trip, the load cell did not trip as expected. Supervisor decided to evacuate the mine via the chippy. MSHA and GL Tiley were contacted. GL Tiley discovered that the slack rope was not being bypassed in the system which caused the load cell to not trip. They made an adjustment and tested it twice successfully. Hoist was operational and running at 11:35pm.
Sunday night, #3 hoist skip was found to not sound right. It was noticed that the brass slider on the back side of the dogs was twisted and bent causing the dog to bind and not retract. The mine was evacuated and the dog replaced. A full shaft inspection was done prior to send people underground, no damage was found to the guides.
Employee was making holes in an old belt used for skirting in NW2B/NW2A transfer. Employee was wearing gloves and used a hole punch with a 3 lb hammer to cut holes. Employee was in the process of driving the punch through the belt when the hammer struck their left thumb. Tip of the left thumb was broken.
As the bolter wrench was tightening the bolt in the hole, the bolt was a spinner and did not properly take in the hole. As the wrench was lowered, the bolt came almost all the way out of the hole. When employee reached up to pull the bolt out of the roof by hand (with gloves), it fell out of the roof and pinched the employee's left ring finger. Employee received 3 stitches.
Around 11am 1 ladder rung was found to be broken in the #3 mancage. The ladder is used to exit the cage in case of emergency. The decision was made to evac the mine until the ladder could be repaired. The ladder was repaired by 12pm thus cancelling the evac.
During the test trip of 2 hoist the load cell fault did not trip the hoist when chairing the cage as it should have. The weight was not low enough to trip the hoist. GL Tiley was called and remotely adjusted and installed skip weight offset in load cell input data. This was essentially recalibrating the load cells allowing the 2 hoist to work correctly.
At the end of the shift the hoist operator was not able to get the brakes on #3 hoist to release. The supervisor was called and they began to troubleshoot. When it was realized that it would take more than 30 minutes to correct MSHA was notified. The issue was the pumps were building pressure but the brakes would not release.
While performing test trips on #1 hoist, the slack rope knocker got pulled and would not reset. It was found that the switch was broken causing the hoist to be down. The decision was made to evacuate the mine and MSHA was called. The electricians replaced the switch and everything went back to normal.
At 5:30am there was an electrical arc in our substation & at 2 NYSEG switch locations. UG power dropped due to the arcing & surface power was disconnected purposefully. NYSEG arrived at ~9:30am to investigate the problem & correct it. This issue obviously caused our #1 & #3 hoists to go down. We suspect that atmospheric conditions and salt buildup caused the outage.
At 11:45 pm an employee noticed a hydraulic leak and found a crack in the hydraulic block of the break unit of the #1 hoist. So, the hoist went down until the hydraulic block was replaced by a new one. This accident has been reported to the manufacturer and investigation will continue in order to find what caused the crack to appear.
The hoist operator was doing the pre-shift test trip and was getting incorrect slack rope faults on the load cells. Once on site the engineer investigated and found a loose wire in the control box of the load cells that caused it to give incorrect faults. Once they tightened the loose wire and re-calibrated it everything worked as it should.
The fresh water solenoid valve shorted the controls system for the #2 hoist.
While starting the test trip it was discovered that the # 2 hoist would not power up on line power OR generator power. Troubleshooting began and 4 hoist control fuses were found to be blown and 1 circuit breaker tripped. MSHA was called at 3:45pm and notified, at 5:33pm MSHA was notified that the hoist was back running.
The hoist operator attempted to hoist a loaded North skip to the surface. Hoist tripped out, no faults, upon further investigation electrician found 120 Volt circuit not present in the West drive cabinet. Through trouble shooting a 3 amp fuse, for the 120 Volt circuit, was found to be blown.
We were changing the dog springs in the #3 mancage as a PM. During this process the lifting beam needs to be detached from the drawhead of the cage. The lifting beam was lifted to high by the hoist and the backing plate of the lifting beam was bent. The lifting beam needed to be repaired prior to putting the cage back into service.
On the afternoon of the 19th the decision was made to evacuate the mine due to the discovery of the dogging mechanisms on the #2 escape hoist not working properly.
Employees sending a switchgear underground in material cage. Switchgear was suspended in the cage while EE's tried to secure the bottom of the switchgear. EE stepped between the switchgear and forklift to attach the chains, the switchgear shifted pinching the EE's left leg between the forks & switchgear. EE received an abrasion/contusion to their shin.
While performing test trips the #3 hoist kicked out and the drive would not reset. A program change to correct a nuisance trip for the new slack rope detection system also created a new fault for mismatch speed between the drive and PLC. During the hoist test trip, the mismatch speed fault occurred, but could not be reset due to an error in the logic code that was installed.
At 5:13pm there was an instantaneous over-current that caused the East motor drive of the #1 hoist to trip out. This was due to a housing bolt that broke on an SCR causing it to arc against the cooling fins. The cause was found the next day on 2/25/16 and repaired.
While riding the skip into the mine for the start of 3rd shift, the skip stopped suddenly near the 770 foot depth. A broken guide in the North side of the shaft had moved a couple inches in towards the center of the shaft causing a wear plate on the skip to get caught on it, stopping the skip. 17 miners were on board at the time of the incident.
At approximately 11:50am the #3 Hoist AC breaker tripped and would not reset while doing test trips. About 45 minutes later the breaker was repaired and several test trips were performed successfully. By 1pm the hoist was back up and running. No one was underground at the time of the incident.
Employee experienced a 25 db threshold shift in their right ear after being tested and retested. Employee stated that his regular doctor informed him that this ear has ear wax built up in it from a sinus infection that he needs to have cleaned out. We are waiting to hear back from audiologist on whether this is work related or not. Employee works in office setting underground.
The dump door on the North production skip did not open all the way causing it to get hung up on the structure above the dump chute. Potentially creating a hazard if personnel were traveling in the shaft.
20 conductor wire was rubbed through causing a short, blowing fuses to the #2 hoist. This caused the #2 hoist to go down.
Employee was drilling in 4 tunnel when another employee pulled up in a skid steer to discuss where to clean next. He was sent to 5 tunnel. As the employee turned the skid steer to exit 4 tunnel, the skid steer boom pinched the other employees ankle in between the two pieces of equipment.
Employee was cleaning a plugged cyclone chute in Screen Plant. Employee reached into an open access hatch and finger got caught in Rotary Air Lock Valve. Tip of Right middle finger was amputated.
An EE was making a vacuum hose for M-27 Bolter in the Smag Bay. The EE was holding the hose with their left hand and cutting with their right. The force needed to cut the hose to length caused the knife to go all the way through, but sliced the EE's pointer finger at the same time. EE was not wearing gloves during this job. The EE received 5 stitches on their left pointer finger.
Power from the NYSEG owned substation was interrupted due to two fuses blown. This caused the #1 and #3 hoists to stop while performing test trips. There were no people underground at this time.
January 26th employee was descending from Tractor the heel of his boot caught the bottom step. The employee lost balance and attempted to catch himself from falling; sudden movement caused a pop in the employees lower back. The employee declined going to the doctors. January 28th the employee asked to see a doctor due to pain. The employee was prescribed medication for pain.
Hoist would not reset. Employee notified MSHA after 30 minutes of being down. The hoist was down for a total of little over one hour. Maintenance replaced the fuse and started the hoist back up.
An employee noticed the roof fall in an infrequently used travelway of the mine while driving past. Area was bermed off and supervisor was notified immediately. The roof fall was approximately 100ft x 30ft x 10ft thick, above anchorage points. No one was injured.
#2 Hoist lost power to console during test trip. Maintenance trouble shooting- discovered water in south brattice box on hoist. Dried water up and replaced solenoid.
Lightning strike during storm, ignited methane bleeder exhaust pipe at number 3 headframe.
Hoist lost power to PLC at 12:20 pm. Found shorted horn at collar. Removed short circuited horn from operation. Evacuation started at 12:35 am, cancelled at 1:20 am when hoist returned to normal operations.
#3 hoist down - ground drive fault. Reset ground breaker fixed at 5:30 am. Evacuation started at 4:45 am, cancelled 5:22 am.
Power dropped out due to electrical storm, NYSEG fixed, power restored. Hoists are operational.
At 2:28am, power went out. Upon investigating the surface transformer they noticed the center phase had blown. Realizing power was not going to be restored, MSHA was called, and an evacuation was initiated. Further diagnostics determined it was an internal fault on the transformer that had been in service for 34 days. Transformer was removed from service and spare was installed.
8:15am the #3 Hoist went down.RexRoth card in the West Manifold Cabinet that regulates the pressures for the west calipers went bad.DHS was not able to see the pressures on the west brakes and would not reset.MSHA called at 8:30a. Mine Evac called at 9a. The card was changed and the pressures reset. Completed 2 test trips with no issues and then sent everyone back into the mine.
Brake fault on right brake #3 hoist would not release(brakes were set). Evacuation called at 11pm. Msha called at 11pm. 18 Hourly, 2 salary evacuated from #1 Hoist. Electrical supervisor reset hoist. Two complete test trips were completed. No problems found after reset and test trips. 12:25pm hoist was fully operational, evacuation called off and third shift crews went UG.
EE was greasing the hoist. Stood up and felt faint. Pulse was elevated, and numbness in left shoulder. Called Supervisor, and EE was checked out. Decision made to call ambulance was taken to hospital where it was determined that nothing was wrong. He received a back to work slip without restriction and told to contact his cardiologist. Cardiologist did not prescribe anything.
EE was mucking out of 2 tunnel in the b/t of U62 in F intersection. Large slab of roof rock lying on top of the muck pile. As EE was mucking he noticed the slab sliding down the pile so he proceeded to back out of the entry. At that point the EE noticed the roof started falling past the last line of bolts and continuing into the bolted ground so he took cover in the loader.
Last shift Fri night noise was heard exiting the mine. Found lower NE wear plate folded. Plans made to repair the wear plate and inspect the shaft before the weekend crew came in. Sat morning, wear plate replaced, shaft inspected and discovered damaged guide at -965. Call to MSHA at 11:25am to report shaft down. Repairs completed and weekend crews returned to work at 4:00 pm
An EE was sprayed in the face with a 3% sulfuric acid, 97% water solution after a pipe broke in the ED Plant while testing rotation of a pump. The EEs eyes were examined and determined there was a small ulcer to the left eye. The doctor prescribed eye drops with an antibiotic to prevent infection. The employee was released to work without restriction.
Supervisor had stopped to take lunch at approx. 1am in U62A. Piece of hotdog became lodged just above the entrance of his stomach. Breathing was unaffected. Given the level of the employees discomfort, the decision was made to send him to the hospital. Employee returned to his next scheduled shift on 2/3/14.
415p supervisor notified of strange sound at #3hoist. After investigating the noise it was determined to be coming from the grid coupler between gear box and drum. Evac started @430p out #1 shaft so the #3 coupler & grid could be inspected. MSHA Notified at 445p, all out by 545p. Grid was intact but contacting coupler case. Grid adjusted & hoist returned to operation @645p.
At 2:20pm 2 EE's heard a fall in a bermed off notch of U63A H crosscut. GF investigated and reported at 2:50pm that it was at or above the anchor zone. Incident immediately reported to MSHA. Area bermed off. Investigation determined adjacent reliever had not been shot to desired depth thus causing high stress to the area.
Shaft conveyance was being lowered into the mine, transporting personnel. A sound was heard which was reported to the shaft crew supervisor. A guide wear plate caught the upper lip of the steel shaft guide which rolled back and peeled off, approx. 6""X6"" piece. This needed to be repaired before the shaft could be returned to operation. The mine was evacuated during the repairs.
During a routine test trip the brakes set and would not release because the system could not build up the required pressure. Through investigation it was determined that the relief (pilot) valve had failed due to contaminates within the oil. Valve replaced, and oil samples will be taken regularly.
In the #3 shaft near the 900 ft range, a torch was being used to remove old guides in preparation to install new. During this process a piece hot slag fell from the work area and lit a known methane bleeder. A sample of the gas was taken for analysis, and a permanent solution is currently be devised to prevent reoccurrance.
While employees were hoisting a piece of steel which had been removed from the S1 Screen, the weld broke on the pick point allowing the piece of steel to fall, ricochet off the screen and strike the EE knocking him to the floor. This impact caused bruising to the upper thigh, minor laceration to the back of head, and minor fracture to the EE's foot.
At 8:38am the #3 hoist tripped out due to a drive fault alarm with shaft crew personnel on work deck.9:01 am evacuation initiated and MSHA notified.9:58am all UG employees out of the mine. Shaft crew employees lowered to mine landing at 10:35am. Rebooted TBR PLCs. Shaft Crew brought out in inspection speed. Shaft crew out of the mine at 11:25am.
At 9:45 #3 hoist displayed encoder fault causing hoist to trip out.10:00pm MSHA notified. Co. contacted to troubleshoot issue.Hoist reset,test trips ran,hoist functioned properly,decision made to bring crews out via #3 hoist.All crews out of mine @ 11:48pm.MSHA notified apx.11:55pm. Fault caused by loose connection in the PLC rack.Connection secured, multiple test trips were ran.
Around 0605 #3 hoist kicked out at 200' from the collar. Reset hoist brought crew to surface. MSHA Notified 0614, began evac out #1 hoist. All crews out by 0730. The set screw of the encoder on the hoist drum shaft had become loose. Set screw was tightened, the system reset, and test trips ran. All personnel allowed to return to the mine and MSHA notified at 0800.
Around 10:55am the hoist operator noticed a crack in the main block of the HPU for the #1 Hoist. Maintenance called to replace block valve. MSHA Notified at 11:25am. No need for evacuation, #2 & # 3 Hoists were still operational. Block valve replaced, test trip ran and #1 Hoist back up at 12:15pm. MSHA notified of corrective actions at 12:15 PM. (Incident # 1-101114264)
At 7:10am the brakes on #3 hoist failed to release. After troubleshooting for 20 minutes (7:30am) the call was made to evacuate out #1 hoist. MSHA was notified at 7:40am. Troubleshot from 9:30-11:45am. E-stop had gone bad causing the brakes to not release. E-stop was changed out and a test trip was ran. #3 back up by 12:10pm. MSHA Notified of corrective action at 12:45pm.
9:15p #3 brakes wouldn't release. 9:40p mine evac started, MSHA notified.10:45p evac complete, MSHA notified, PLC reset, test trips performed; issue resolved. 3:35a #3 brakes would not release, mine evac started again.3:40a MSHA notified. 4:50a evac complete,and MSHA notified. Oil and filter housing changed,test trips performed and hoist operational by 7:40a,MSHA notified at 7:45a.
At 4:45 pm a ground fault arrestor in the surface substation blew causing a power outage to the west side of the mine. At this time both #1 and #3 hoists were still operational. 4:52 pm the call was made to send crews home rather than have them sit idle. 4:53 pm MSHA notified of power outage. 6:30 pm all crews out of mine. 6:50 pm power restored to mine.
11:04 pm the mine lost power due to a blown lightning arrestor in the surface substation. 11:15 pm the call was made to evacuate the mine. 11:16 pm MSHA was notified. #3 and #2 hoist were used on generator power to hoist personnel from the mine. All employees were evacuated by 1:16 am. MSHA was made aware at 1:19 am. Power was restored to the mine by 4:30 am.
At 1:57 pm power was lost due to a blown lightning resistor in the surface substation. 2:05pm the decision was made to evacuate the mine, 2:08 pm MSHA was notified. #3 hoist was used on generator power to hoist employees out of the mine. All employees out by 3:35 pm. 4:14 pm power was restored to the mine.
While 2 EEs were riding work deck below chippy, a hose blew on hoist & it began to unreel. Hoist operator hit E-Stop. 1 EE on chippy work deck lost his balance & struck a divider injuring back. He was taken to a hospital to be checked out, given shot for pain, & released to full work duty. Hose blew @ 5PM, @ 5:22 evac called, @ 5:25 MSHA called, @ 6:00 all EEs out of mine.
employee has developed tendonitis in both wrists due to cumulative trauma. He has been a shaft worker for 16+ years and operated high impact tools, chipping hammers, jack-legs, air impact wrenches.
At 2:15 pm the #3 hoist went down due to a broken wear plate. During a test trip, the hoist operator brought the skip into overtravel and a wear plate caught on a guide splice, tearing it off. At 2:30 pm the official notice to evacuate the mine was given and MSHA was notified. The wear plate was replaced, a test trip was performed, and the #3 hoist was fully operational by 4:30 pm.
At 11:05 am the #3 went down due to the drum brakes not releasing. At 11:17 am the official notice to evacuate the mine was given and MSHA was notified. At 11:25 am the breakers were reset and the system then functioned properly. A test trip was completed and the #3 hoist was fully operational by 11:34 am. At this time the evacuation was called off.
# 1 hoist went down with SCR fans fault. Tried acknowledging faults but safety circuit would not clear. SCR fan was replaced with temporary and hoist was put back in service.
# 3 hoist went down with a PLC issue at 5:50 am. MSHA was called at 6:10 to alert them. Evacuation was started. The evacuation was called off when the issue was resolved at 7:00 am. MSHA was notified that hoist was running at 8:00 am.
# 1 Hoist kicked out abruptly with multiple electrical faults. Suspected electrical issue. Repaired by fixing short in east transformer.
DC loop contactor contacts arcing, burnt out bolt holding operating side of contact assembly. System ground faulted stopping the hoist. EE contacted the MSHA hotline. The mine was evacuated. A spare loop contactor was installed and the hoist resumed normal operations at 2:24 pm.
4160 cable was hit with excavator, knocking out the power to the # 3 hoist.
Moved North skip to surface for Chippy test trip. When beginning Test trip for #1 hoist would not reset.
Intermittent problems with the hoist's brake caused the hoist to be shut down for a repair. The three-way valve on the SOBO Unit was replaced.
While making a right hand turn the door of operator's pickup opened and his balance was thrown off. Grasping the wheel, as his body shifted, the truck was turned to the left and impacted a pillar. Upon impact the operator fell to the ground.
#1 salt hoist pinion brake failing to release properly causing the hoist to 'kick out'. The hydraulic pump was changed and the SOBO valves cleaned out.
West motor blower experienced an electrical short in a junction box.
SOBO was cycling rapidly, North skip loaded, hoist rolled, E-stop activated, Hoist in track limit.
Sobo brake fault wouldn't reset. Tied right side Sobo control into left side UPS backup. North UPS bypassed to South UPS.
Skip door wouldn't close and skip was not allowed to leave the headframe. The gate mechanism was cleaned and a build-up of material was removed. The gate closed and the system was retuned to normal operations.
Was at the back of the truck checking load and fell of the back--he apparently caught his leg between the back doors and crushed some tissues--x-rays show NO broken bones--He will return to work on 8-06-2010.
A west drive communication fault caused the hoist to kick out. Normal reset procedures would not allow resumption of operation. Component was replaced and hoist returned to operational status.
Pop off valve on the air tank, located in the #1 Hoist Pit failed.
On March 24, 2010 at approximately 6:05 pm the 150 ton bin collapsed, falling onto a truck below. Employee was in the bin operator's booth and was injured when the booth collapsed with the bin.
Employee was in dump truck waiting to be loaded with bulk salt from under 150 ton bin to transfer it to the stockpile pad on Cargill Deicing property. He was being loaded with salt when the brackets from the bin gave way and landed on the cab of his truck pinning him inside.
East Autron drive communication board bad. Changed board to return to normal operations.
While scaling 1/9/2010, an employee brought down loose scale that bounced & struck his leg. First Aid was given, an 'abrasion' was reported, but no Medical Aid was sought. Two weeks later (1/26/2010) the wound became infected & required medical aid including a prescription making it a reportable incident. We adjusted the miner's duty to allow for additional care while healing.
The center high voltage regulator shorted out causing one phase to 'drop out'. Our three phases motors will not operate without all three phases in operation.
Electrical issues with SCR modules and Amplification cards.
Miner was sharpening bits when the bit and tool slid off the rest. Miner's hand moved forward and struck the rotating grinding wheel, causing laceration.
Hydraulic line on west Sobo brake blows. Called MSHA took initial steps to evacuate the mine. Hydraulic line replaced and conveyance back into service.
A new divider, carried on work deck to where it would be installed, came into contact with another divider. Resulting damage to work deck and its disconnection from the skip. Deck wedged in the shaft and the miners were taken to the 4-Level of the mine. All miners were evacuated from the mine until the work decks could be retrieved and all systems returned to normal.
An insulator on a High Voltage line failed and shorted to a lightning arrester throwing sparks into dry grass below the pole. A grass fire ensued that required the assistance of the local fire department to bring under control. MSHA was called and the fire was under control within an hour. About 3/4 of an acre burned.
New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) transformer blows. Power interrupted in area of mine. All power to mine lost. Evacuation started, MSHA called.Power restored at 10:37 and evacuation called off. All clear and returned to normal operations.
A proximity switch on one of the gates was repaired and a test trip made. When the conveyance was brought to the upper track limit a control breaker tripped. Efforts to diagnose the problem failed to bring a solution in a timely fashion. MSHA was notified and an evacuation of the mine was undertaken. All employees were brought to surface.
A short across the lightning arresters on the incoming plant power caused two fuses to blow resulting in a loss of power to #1 and #3 Hoists. The mine was evacuated using the diesel generator to power the auxillary (""Chippy"") hoist.
While dismantling exhaust equipment to facilitate the removal of an engine, a socket wrench slipped from the nut. This caused the employee's elbow to move backwards allowing it to strike a piece of angle iron with sufficient force to make a small cut above the left elbow, requiring stitches.
A lug on an U/G transformer shorted out causing a GFI on surface to fail. Started evacuation. Changed GFI to get Hoist operational again. Test Trips and all OK at 1:15 a.m. Talked to James Petrie.
Hoist #3 brought skip to surface landing and kicked out. Hoist controls would not reset, called MSHA, began evacuation of workers U/G. Trouble shooting revealed faulty (?) axis servo (PLC) card. Changed card and reset hoist. Tested OK.
Rupture in hydraulic hose on west pinion brake. Severe enough to warrant an immediate shut down to change hydraulic hose.
Multiple electrical components burned up; possible power surge, shorted switch.
Intermittent fault in master relay caused irregular operating conditions into next day. Second egress from mine was never compromised,'Chippy' and #3 remained available & in service.(Hoist taken out of regular operation as mine-wide maintenance shutdown takes effect at end of 1st shift August 1, 2008. Opportunities to perform maintenance and upgrades.)
HMI failure at #3 Hoist, would not reboot completely, hoist would not operate consistantly. Started evacuation through #1 shaft. Rebooted HMI, PLC and DHS hoist did reset, but functionality was inconsistant still. Changed HMI computer unit function was restored, test trips and return to service at 04:45a.m.
Underwind fault, recent hoist automation ""bugs"" being discovered and corrected.
#1 Hoist stopped and would not reset. UPS for the PLC system failure causing hoist to go down. UPS replaced, hoist recalibrated, reset, checked, balanced, tested OK. Two means of egress were still operational (#3 Hoist and ""Chippy"")