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Massey Cited for Strip-Mine Death: ; Highwall Collapse Killed Excavator

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

kward@wvgazette.com Massey Energy officials did not properly protect miners working near a dangerous highwall that collapsed in November and killed a Raleigh County man, federal investigators have concluded. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Masseys Endurance Mining with two alleged violations in the death of Kevin Lee Lupardus. Penalties for the citations have not yet been assessed. Lupardus, 41, of Mabscott, was crushed to death when large rocks from the highwall fell onto the cab of the excavator he was operating. The incident occurred at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2004, at Endurances Red Cedar Surface Mine near Clothier, Boone County. At the time of the accident, Lupardus was using an excavator basically a giant backhoe to dig rocks out from against the highwall in a mining pit. MSHA investigators found that Masseys mine maps showed that abandoned mine workings were located along the entire length of the highwall, according to the agencys report. In its report, the MSHA said the highwall was not stable. But even after some parts of the highwall collapsed, company officials did not develop a plan for safely working around the unstable areas

. The mine operator did not establish procedures for addressing the presence of old works, said the 15-page MSHA report. If subsidence resulting from the old works caused highwall failure, the area was barricaded or the fallen material was loaded out, but the mine plan did not change. The MSHA cited Massey with alleged violations of two federal mine safety regulations: * A requirement that operators establish and follow a plan to control highwalls, pits and spoil banks to ensure their stability. * A requirement that miners not work near or under dangerous highwalls or banks. MSHA spokeswoman Suzy Bohnert declined Monday to release a formal copy of the agencys report. On Friday, the report was provided to a lawyer for Lupardus family. It was scheduled to be provided to Massey officials on Monday. In March, Charleston lawyer E. William Harvit filed a lawsuit in Boone Circuit Court on behalf of Lupardus widow, his father and his estate. Lupardus was also survived by two children, Kita Mae and Daniel, according to the court complaint. The lawsuit alleges that Lupardus was killed as a direct and proximate result of specific unsafe working conditions which existed in the work place. The suit alleged that these unsafe conditions presented a high degree of risk and a strong probability of serious injury or death. It further alleged that Massey had a subjective realization and an appreciation of the unsafe conditions. Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater did not return a phone call Monday. Lupardus was one of 12 West Virginia coal miners who died on the job in 2004. West Virginia led the nation in mining fatalities last year. So far this year, two West Virginia coal miners have been killed on the job. On Friday, the deaths of two workers at a Kentucky coal preparation plant pushed the total industry fatalities in 2005 to 15. Two other workers were also injured in the accident at Bell County Coal Corp. near Middlesboro, according to a preliminary MSHA report. All four refuse truck drivers had gathered in a pump house to eat lunch. One of them had parked his 1988 Mack RD866 dump truck up a hill from the pump house. The truck rolled 65 feet down hill, striking and destroying the pump house, the MSHA report said. The two drivers nearer the point of impact suffered fatal crushing injuries as the truck traveled over them, while the two non-fatally injured drivers were nearer the back of the pump house, the report said. These drivers were thrown over the hill by the impact, along with the building debris. The accident at Bell County Coal was the Kentucky coal industrys second double fatality this month. On Aug. 3, two miners died in a roof fall at Stillhouse Mining in Harlan County, Ky.

Source: Charleston Gazette, The

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