Industry Summary
The Coal Mining industry has really been reeling, experiencing a massive employment decline of -11.14% in just the 12 months. The most recent numbers from 2015 show that employment was right at 64,135 working at 1,065 different establishments throughout the United States, which is 8,037 less than the year prior. Over the past 5 years this industry has recorded an accident rate of over 2 times (-100% more) the average for the Mining (except Oil and Gas) Industry.
On Thursday, January 11th 2018 OSHA reps took a report of a serious accident in Wharton, WV at Rockwell Mining Llc. A 27 year old man working as a Laborer was killed on the job when the employee died from methane gas asphyxiation
Accident Date2017-11-28
Accident DegreeFatality
NarrativeAt 2:00 p.m. on November 28, 2017, Employee #1 and a coworker were looking for drainage valves at a mine water treatment pond facility. Employee #1 went down a ladder into a manhole next to one of the ponds to look for the valve. Employee#1 fell off of the ladder as soon as his head got to ground level. He fell into the bottom of the twelve foot deep manhole and collapsed against a wall. Emergency services were contacted along with responders from MSHA. The MSHA personnel were the only people on site with gas detectors. The MSHA personnel found the oxygen level to be 5 percent and the methane level to be 15 percent in the manhole. A blower system was set up to clear the manhole of the methane gas before rescuers could retrieve Employee #1. Employee #1 died from asphyxiation before he could be rescued.