A miner’s fatal fall was the result of his employer’s failure to assure that workers used fall protection when working in areas where there was a danger of falling.
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigators found that while the employer provided fall PPE and training it failed to have adequate written procedures to ensure workers wore their safety gear.
Mechanical problems with drill mast
Donald Saul, a driller employed by Explosive Contractors Inc. (ECI), was working at the 3M Little Rock Industrial Mineral Products mine in Pulaski County, Arkansas. ECI was tasked with blasting material at the mine before it gets loaded into haul trucks.
On June 20, 2022, Saul conducted a pre-operational inspection of his Epiroc D65 Rock Drill at 6:37 a.m. The drill has a diesel engine-powered main body that carries a hydraulically manipulated drill mast. The drill mast houses the drill steel carousel and drill steel.
Saul then transported the drill to the area where he was assigned to work during his shift. At 9:13 a.m., Saul called a 3M mine supervisor and ECI’s drilling supervisor with his cell phone and told them he had a dislodged drill steel that he needed assistance with. The 3M supervisor transported Saul to his pickup truck to retrieve a new drill steel while the ECI drilling supervisor told him how to correct the problem.
By 9:20 a.m., Saul and the 3M supervisor were back at the drill, working on getting the dislodged drill steel removed and replaced. The 3M supervisor left at 10:10 a.m. as Saul began positioning the drill for the first hole in the drill pattern.
Worker left fully functional fall PPE in his pickup truck
At 10:30 a.m., the ECI drill supervisor attempted to contact Saul multiple times to see if he was able to fix the drill steel problem. Saul didn’t answer any of the calls. The drill supervisor checked in with the 3M supervisor and they were able to find Saul’s drill using surveillance cameras. However, while they could see the drill, they were unable to locate Saul. During a scan with the camera, the 3M supervisor saw something orange in a rock pile near the drill.
The 3M supervisor and several other employees drove out to the drill and found Saul laying on a rock pile leftover from previous blasting activities. Saul was pronounced dead by emergency responders at 12:48 p.m.
MSHA investigators found the drill’s carousel drill steel securing gates open with a drill steel leaning out of the carousel from the top against the lower railing of the machine’s mast. Investigators determined that Saul was attempting to move the dislodged drill steel by hand when he fell 30 feet from the mast, over the highwall blasting area and onto the rock pile.
Saul’s fall protection harness and lanyard were found inside his pickup truck. Both were fully functional. A review of Saul’s training records revealed he’d had training on the use of fall PPE as well as site-specific training on fall hazards, fall protection, and how to tie off.
New procedures require more communication, hazard assessment
MSHA found that the root cause of the incident was ECI’s failure to assure that Saul used fall protection while working where there was a danger of falling.
ECI has since developed new written procedures addressing the use of fall protection and fall restraint systems at drill sites.
The new procedures include that when drill operators have to leave the cab of their drill they must:
- contact their supervisors and a 3M representative by two-way radio before any work on the drill begins
- assess any potential hazards, including the conditions of the mine area they’re in, moving equipment, trip hazards, fall hazards and any other possible hazards that are nearby, and
- contact their supervisors and a 3M representative if fall protection is required.
