MSHA Safety Alert – Haul Truck Incident and Best Practices
Updated on February 3, 2016 by Sales Team
MSHA Safety Alert – Haul Truck Incident and Best Practices
This morning brought another MSHA safety alert involving a serious accident. The incident happened at a Surface Limestone operation where “a miner was operating an empty articulating haul truck. The driver lost control on a downhill grade and overturned. He was hospitalized with serious injuries but survived, likely because he was wearing his seat belt.” The injured driver will be in our thoughts today.
MSHA’s best practices to prevent future haul truck injuries include:
- Always wear a seat belt when operating mobile equipment.
- Task train mobile equipment operators adequately and ensure each operator can demonstrate proficiency in all phases of mobile equipment operation before performing work.
- Conduct adequate pre-operational checks and correct any defects affecting safety in a timely manner prior to operating mobile equipment.
- Maintain control of self-propelled mobile equipment while it is in motion.
- Post safe speed limits for the mine roads and remind mobile equipment operators to reduce speed when weather conditions change.
You can download the alert pdf here.
MSHA has been very active recently. In just the past few months they have announced an enforcement “surge” on M/NM mines, an emphasis on confined spaces and Lock Out, Tag Out, Try Out procedures, and Part 50 injury reporting. MSHA safety alerts have also been issued with increasing regularity. 2016 is shaping up to be a busy year.
The best practices in today’s MSHA safety alert don’t just apply to haul trucks. Customers and contractors driving on mines must also be made aware of mine safety best practices. This can be done during the initial Site Specific Hazard Awareness training. However, making contractor safety training a consistent routine will improve safety for everyone on the mine. When a company resubmits their MSHA training paperwork is a convenient time for this training, but more often is always better.
If you need resources for this training, you can go to CalCIMA’s website for free driver safety training materials. You can also use this free truck safety training video produced by MSC and CalCIMA.