uh
right here
me
wow
hey dad can i drive
maybe next time we got to get to that
game
hold on hold on do over i wasn't ready
you
ready you ever going to let me win one
nope no
my name is jack baldwin i'm a coal miner
i started
the coal mines in 1971 so i've been in
33 years underground
and i've run a continuous miner operator
for
25 years and then ever since the remote
control miners came out you know i've
been on the remote with the remote box
yeah i think the remote control box is a
lot safer than the deck operated of
course you know we've had quite a few
people killed with remote control
that
you know you have to be alert be aware
of what you're doing stay out of the
pinch points
and uh you know i thank god that he's
kept me and blessed me all these years
that i've run the minor you know i give
him the most credit but he gave me the
wisdom knowledge to kind of stay out and
do the job to the best ability that he
gives me to do it
from 1990 to 2004
24 underground fatalities have occurred
while personnel were operating remote
control miners
16 of the 24 fatalities occurred as
operators were tramming the machine
11 of the 24 fatalities have occurred
between the years 2000 and 2004
five of these fatalities were in
virginia
we must all make sure that everyone
stays out of the red zones when the
machine is energized
make sure to always comply with the roof
control plan
always test the emergency stop to make
sure it is operating properly at all
times
you're going to do fine tonight i got
faith in you
thanks dad
bye
you better try that again
now that's more like it
i'm gonna let you drive home from school
bye love you i love you too you be
careful see you this evening
morning buddy
how you doing this morning fine
let's go make one
we'll do it
my accident had happened
could have took my legs off or killed me
either one so
the minor can get away from you i was
moving across the section one day
hooking up my ropes
and hit the tram when i was uh
going across the section
and hit caught my legs between the rib
and the standoff just so happened it
stopped before it
mashed me
i got by with it and next person may not
hey kevin hey liz
you still got them boots on sale yeah
sure do size 10 right size 10. all
righty can i send lisa down tomorrow to
pick him up okay i'll hold you up here
okay thanks a lot no problem take it
easy
got them cross-cut through last night
they might have
you know we got that safety talk this
morning
yeah that's what i heard
you know i'm getting about sick and
tired of them coming down here trying to
tell me how to do my job
i've been doing this for 21 years 21
years raj
you think by now somebody would ask me
for my advice
well bob you know they're just trying to
help come on let's go yeah i know what
they're trying to do
i'm glenn sizemore
i'm coal miner i've been working in
mount about 34 years and the last 32 of
it i've never had a lost time accident
and
you know
we've had everybody's i guess you know
had close calls and little things that
other people might you know cause you to
get hurt but i've been real fortunate
about that
and
like i said i've been 32 years old lost
time never missed a shift and a lot of
it i guess it's just been a while where
you where you're at your surroundings
and a lot of times you've got to watch
the other man because the other man's
one's going to hurt you you ain't going
to hurt yourself so
just
be careful do your best that's you know
and you make it back home
so
now
hello here guys we're gonna have a
safety talk got a special speaker
bills i'm
carol green my inspector supervisor with
the virginia department of mines
minerals and energy
we're going to have a special safety
talk on the remote control miner safety
hey whizzy's talking about you
hey
i'm talking about you
hey i always want to
we'll look at these these charts
uh we're putting a lot of emphasis on
remote control minor safety with the
with the recent increase in the number
of
miners that we've had that's been killed
and
been involved in serous accidents and
and near misses as well
i'll give you just a few stats and then
we'll look at these charts and and
try to analyze
hopefully and learn from mistakes that
others have made
from 1990 to the present 24 underground
fatalities have occurred
personnel were operating remote control
miners and if you look at this chart you
can see that that the majority of them
occurred on this right side of the
machine
several down in here around the end of
the boom several in this location where
usually the cable enters the miner and
then up here near the ripper head
16 of these 24 fatalities occurred as
operators were tramming the machine
11 of the
24 fatalities have occurred from the
year 2000 to today so you can see that
the sudden increase that we've had just
in the last four years
five of these fatalities have occurred
in virginia four of them occurred down
here like i said at the cable entrance
area the continuous minor and we have
one occurred up here right behind the
ripper head
must make sure that everyone stays out
of the red zones when the machine is
energized and we've got a red zone char
here most all of you are familiar with
you can see the different examples we
show the different cuts that we take
we've got a high risk
area when when people are tramming the
machine
we must make sure that we always comply
with a roof control plan as far as where
people are positioned themselves when
the miner is energized
we must always test emergency stop to
make sure he's operating properly at all
times because you never know when we may
need to cut that miner off in if we do
have a emergency
now fellas we know several you guys have
operated continuous mining for a long
time
and i know that you
that you guys feel safe and comfortable
where you position yourself when
operating and tramming the miner
and i'm sure
most of these
guys on this fatality chart i also felt
they were in a safe location as well
when you look at like i said the the
fatalities that have occurred across the
nation
uh they probably felt safe as well
this fatality information proves that
being alongside the miner when training
or reposition the miner puts you out in
the red zone you can see the different
the different cut sequences that we've
got here uh
where people are to position themselves
to stay out of that red zone
whether you're a minor operator a minor
helper or whatever
role you're playing
whatever work you're performing when
you're near that minor when when it's
energized history has shown that remote
control minor operators feel safe when
positioned at the middle point of the
minor when training or repositioning
machine now by that i mean most people
think they're comfortable up in this
area because they look at that as not
being one of what we call the pivot
points of the minor
these fatalities serious accidents and
many near misses prove that this myth is
is absolutely false
what you have to realize is that when
you start moving the machine the
relationship of your position in
reference to the minor has also changed
if you look at a continuous minor and if
you're up here near it what a lot of
people don't realize is when they start
moving that machine in either direction
the relationship of that minor in
relation to where they're located has
changed and what that ends up doing is
putting them in a red zone
history also proves that being located
at the middle of the machine is not a
safe location because fatalities and
serious accidents have occurred when the
machine slid against the rib pinning the
miner operator and other miners as well
this information clearly proves the me
of feeling safe while located at the
middle machine is absolutely false
well as anybody got any questions or
comments on
the things that we've discussed
i'll just leave you with this uh when
you look at these charts the the red
zone chart showing where we should
position ourselves and and where other
people
aren't allowed to be and when you look
at the the different
fatalities that have occurred not only
in virginia but across the nation it's
important
and
we certainly pray that that everyone
realizes
the ultimate price that people have paid
when unfortunately they put themselves
in an unsafe location
i thank you guys and thank you for your
attention and
just work safe
hey liz
what's your problem
you know i've heard that stuff a hundred
times it just burns me up people wanting
to tell me how to do my job i've been
doing this for 21 years i've not been
hurt yet yes but you're the best
mountain man we got here well he wants
to keep you here another 21 years your
family needs you and we want you to work
safe
yeah i hear you let's just work safe um
we we're going to keep you around here
all right i know my name is emory
orresnick coal miner i've been running
continuous minor roughly 27 years
going on 30 years total mining
experience
on may 24 2003 i had an accident i was
pinned between the minor and the rib
and basically what i did was i got to
cut a coal
i backed the miner up to kick the ripper
breaker put the cable on the head walked
up the side of it
the box swung in toward the panel board
my light cord activated one of the tram
levers
slewing the miner
pinching me
and
by the time the foreman got some more
guys over there
the miner had luckily stopped
they had to dig the rebound with a slate
bar
cut my belt off
lift me up beside the minor between the
minor and the rib straight up
give me to the man bus and get me
outside
i sustained a separated pelvis which
ended up being separated about five to
six inches by the time they did surgery
fractured hip
small bone in my back was broke
i missed 10 and a half months of work
i'm back now but
basically i have pain every day so i
wouldn't want to see this happen to
anyone else
anyone watching this video
needs to take extra precaution
around these continuous minors
whether it be remote or you'd be sitting
in a deck the same thing can happen
either way
if
you're moving out of the place after you
get the cut
you need to make sure that you unhook
the box when you walk up beside that
minor if you're by yourself
before you kick any breakers or put the
cable on or whatever
if you have a helper and he's going to
do it
you make sure that miner is cut off and
you're unhooked before he walks beside
the miner
because anyone in the area
of that minor
can get pinched
and they may end up like some of our
other fatalities
and we don't want to see anyone get hurt
um
so
the continuous miner remote control unit
must be de-energized before a miner
helper or any other person travels into
the red zone pinch-point areas to handle
the cable
operating remote control miners in local
seams present special hazards in that
visibility and personal mobility are
greatly decreased
we're going to number five
the continuous miner remote control unit
must be de-energized before any person
travels into the red zone pinch point
areas to perform any work
including but not limited to
making gas tests maintaining ventilation
testing roof and ribs or handling the
cable
the continuous miner operator cannot get
distracted while tramming the machine
and allow the movement of the machine to
place anyone in a red zone pinch point
area
um
most remote control miner operators are
forward direction oriented a common
misunderstanding that some machine
operators have is that if they are
located at the front of the miner facing
the riverhead as compared to facing the
rear of the machine then they think that
the tram levers should be actuated in
the opposite direction
even though they want to move the
machine in the same direction
well it's like
you say if you're
tramming it from behind it
you're tramming it up there and you want
it to go toward the right rib
you would hit the left tram lever
and sometimes you might have to hit the
right one backwards a little bit
but
depending on what type minor it is most
of them will just slow itself with the
one lever
but if you move around to the front
you're still going to move the levers
the same way but in your mindset you're
thinking you're backwards
but you're not
you still move the levers the same way
what remote-controlled minor operators
must understand is that the actuation of
the tram levers is the same regardless
of whether the operator is standing at
the rear or is standing in the front
facing the machine
miner operators must understand and
realize that splitting the tram levers
with the speed function in turbo
provides very little reaction time in
the case of an emergency it's too fast
you really don't have as much control
over that minor
when it's in turbo tram
as you do when it's in lower tram
objects in the roadway and adverse
bottom conditions including muddy uneven
and sloping areas create the potential
of making the machine move even faster
and if somebody's in the area and you
split those cats in turbo tram
you could have them pinned before you
could do anything
the miner is very fast in turbo tram
as an operator
it's
our responsibility to make sure no one
else is in the area if they are we
should just cut the machine off
okay and you got to watch yourself
if you're going to do that in turbo tram
because it could have you before you can
get out of the way too
the remote control miner operator must
stay clear of the red zone pinch point
areas while turning cross cuts
the miner operator must also ensure that
the remote control unit is de-energized
prior to anyone entering the red zone
pinch-point areas to check the location
of cross-cut centers and to keep the
machine properly aligned in the cut
ah
roger hell the band
hang on buddy
i'm william blackburn william anthony
blackburn i'm a coal miner i run a minor
and i've been a coal miner for 20 years
and
i
i've done a little bit everything
underground i've
kindly worked
done it all
and i've seen a lot of hazards in the
mines and
i've seen a lot of bad things too
the day of the accident
we was we just had started pillaring
and
me and greg
a friend of mine we run minors together
he runs one and i run the other
and
it was up to the last cut before i had
to go to my monitor
and me and one of my shuttle car men
was hanging his curtain as he trammed
the miner to the last cut and he was
telling me was joking and going on have
a good time that day so now
it's your turn to run the miner
as my me and my helper my
shuttle car man was helping me hang the
curtain
certain sounds if you run a piece of
equipment
every day and every day and if you know
something's wrong that will catch your
attention
and
something caught my attention told me it
wasn't right so when i turned around
to see what was going on i know it's my
friend
standing there and i thought you know
everything was all right
and
and they just minor kept spinning
and i finally i looked up into his face
and you know what did i say something
that really affects me every day that i
have to live with for the rest of my
life i lost a good friend
a true brother to me
and
it just something
that his family how he'd affect me
and i like for all the coal
miners it works please stay on the red
zone don't go through what i had to
because your family our family and their
family is not worth it
it's not
and i
really go to all coal miners to stay out
of the red zone
because one minute you're there one
minute you're gone
my friend
i lost a true friend
but
two minutes
i had my back turned for two minutes
and what caught my attention was
something that you do
something that ain't right you know it's
not right and these days that i still
work underground
i hear that certain sound
of something that went on that day
it really
i don't want to look around to see one
of my other co-workers one of my friends
there on the ground or damaged
and this will affect you as bad as it
has me and i just wish to all coal
miners
listen to what i have to say don't go
through what i have what i went through
and what i've seen
because
your family deserves more than that
and
you don't want to see your one of your
best friends that turned out right there
in front of you in your arms
you know
that's why i always want to say
please stay out of the pinch points of
the miners
it's sad
if you put yourself in the wrong
positions that machine gets ahold of you
there's no do-overs
hold on hold on do over i wasn't ready
there's no try again
you better try that again
there are no next times
hey dad can i just maybe next time we
gotta get to the game
if you're not careful you'll end up dead
hang on buddy
hang on you'll be all right
and that'll affect everybody
your friends
your community
your coworkers
and of course your families
and when you're gone they're the ones
that suffer most
single one of us
i love you dad
is
three
heroes
every day
every single one of us
every day
every single one of us
i really
i really miss my friend it's been almost
a year now
and i miss the good times we had fishing
hunting
yeah
i just like to say
just take care of yourself and god be
with us
hey william something wrong
you know i've been doing this 21 years
and i've been doing it my way
and i've been thinking you know maybe
you're right maybe i should try it your
way we're glad to have you on board we
couldn't be proud of you okay
so
now
perfect
you