The Associated Press is reporting that a coal miner was killed today at a strip mine in West Virginia. We’ve got the AP story on our Web site.Â
State officials have identified the miner killed as William Wade, 70, of Bloomingrose. Wade was an employee of Medford Trucking.
Here’s the report I just got in from Amy Louviere at the Mine Safety and Health Administration:
A fatal accident occurred around 9:00 am today in District 4 at the Republic Energy mine. Preliminary information indicates that a contractor operating a coal truck lost control of the truck while traveling down grade on a paved haul road. An eyewitness saw the truck travel a short distance up an embankment and then flip over. The driver was ejected from the truck and was fatally injured when he was pinned under the cab. The victim expired around 12:50 pm after efforts began to rescue him from his trapped position.
Republic Energy is listed as a subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy.
As I have written before, these kinds of trucking accidents at large strip mines are far too common, and are often very preventable.
We’ll have more on this death in Saturday’s print and online editions of the Saturday-Gazette-Mail.
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The American Society of Safety Engineers is concerned that each year transportation-related fatalities continue to be the number one cause of on-the-job deaths in the U.S. As Mr. Ward notes, most are preventable. ASSE has a transportation practice specialty group that provides best practices and expert insights for those looking to increase their corporation’s commercial vehicle safety efforts — especially for the safety of their workers. In ASSE’s free “Preventing Roadway Crashes” brochure (call 847-699-2929, also at http://www.asse.org/newsroom under press kit) there is information on “What employers can do” to enhance safety as well as dos and don’ts for commercial vehicle safety.
For more information go to http://www.asse.org/newsroom.