Companies cited for alleged violations in fatal accident at Kentucky rock quarry
Federal regulators cited two Kentucky companies for alleged violations in connection with the death of an equipment operator at a Pike County sandstone quarry.
The citations were against Mountain Aggregates, which owns and operates the Elkhorn Stone quarry, and Bizzack Construction, a Lexington company that is a contractor at the quarry, according to a report from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Joshua Coleman, an employee of Bizzack, died March 1 while operating a bulldozer at the quarry.
The bulldozer went over an embankment and rolled over several times as it went down a steep hill, coming to rest on an old logging road 303 feet below, according to a report on the accident issued by MSHA.
Coleman was ejected from the bulldozer and died at the scene.
The investigation showed he was not wearing a seat belt, according to the report.
Investigators did not find any mechanical defects that would have contributed to the accident. Damage prevented testing the steering circuit, according to the report.
MSHA issued citations alleging that Mountain Aggregates and Bizzack did not make sure Coleman kept control of the bulldozer and didn’t make sure employees wore seat belts while operating equipment.
Mountain Aggregates and Bizzack put a new procedure in place after the accident to make sure equipment operators remain a safe distance from the edge while pushing material over an embankment, the report said.
The companies also retrained all workers on requirements to wear seat belts.
The two companies can contest the citations.
Coleman, 38, of Pike County, had almost 14 years of experience as a miner. He was married and had three children, according to his obituary.
Another Pike County resident, Billy Mapes, 73, died Feb. 26 at a surface coal mine in West Virginia when the bulldozer he was operating rolled nearly 400 feet down a hill, ejecting him.
There has been one other coal mining-related death in Kentucky this year.
That occurred June 9 in Morgan County when John T. Hillard, a truck driver from Illinois, was struck by the bucket of an excavator as workers tried to load a fuel tank onto a truck.
