Opinion ID: 186475
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Accident & Investigation

Text: 2 Twentymile operates the Foidel Creek Mine (the mine), a large underground coal mine in Colorado. Among its three hundred miners was Kyle Webb, who had worked on the crew of Matthew Winey for more than four years. 26 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 668. Winey, in turn, worked under Kevin Olson, acting shift supervisor. Id. 3 The geological conditions at the mine required that rock sometimes be extracted with the coal. The rock-coal mix was transported away from pure coal extract to prevent accidental commingling. A chute was designed to facilitate the process. The 45-to-50-foot chute, five feet square, was placed in a vertical shaft twelve feet in diameter. The rock-coal mix was dumped into the chute from a conveyer belt, where it fell from one level of the mine to the level below. Id at 667. The chunks falling through the chute ranged in diameter from one to eight inches; baffles slowed the fall of the chunks and prevented damage to the box or conveyer belt at the lower level. Miners could maintain the chute by climbing the ladder alongside the chute and opening one of four doors that accessed the inside of the chute. Id. 4 This particular chute was a new addition to the mine at the time of the accident, and differed from pre-existing chutes in that it was slightly slanted ... instead of [ ] complete[ly] vertical, ALJ Tr. 171 (May 29, 2002), but the clearing of chutes in general was nothing new to Twentymile. Other chutes clogged. According to one mine employee, the clogging of chutes was a recurring problem, happening every four to six months. 26 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 677. 5 On June 6, 2000, after only ten days of operation, the vertical chute in the mine clogged. Id. at 667. Olson assigned Winey to unplug the chute; at some point after this team began working to clear the chute, Webb climbed the ladder and attempted to unclog it. Id. at 668. Neither Winey nor beltman Rick Fadely instructed Webb to climb the ladder, and Winey did not ask Webb what he was doing. Id. 6 The material in the chute began to move; Webb fell from the ladder and landed on a platform, and the chute's rock-coal mixture fell upon him. Id. Webb was airlifted to a local hospital where he was treated for serious, but non-fatal, head injuries. Id. 7 R. Lincoln Derick, the mine's safety manager, was apprised of the incident: he contacted MSHA Inspector Philip Gibson. Both went to the mine with various law-enforcement and mine officials. Id. Following a week's investigation, Gibson issued an order, pursuant to Mine Act section 104(g)(1), 30 U.S.C. § 814(g)(1), charging Twentymile with a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 48.7(c), which provides that [m]iners assigned a new task ... shall be instructed in the safety and health aspects and safe work procedures of performing such task. Six months later, on January 4, 2001, MSHA issued an accident investigation report. After another seven months had passed, on July 31, 2001, the report and an accompanying assessment report were sent to the U.S. Department of Labor's Assessment Office. On November 9, 2001, MSHA proposed a specific penalty assessment and the case proceeded to trial before an administrative law judge (ALJ). 26 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 669-70.