MSHA has confirmed a 340-ton haul truck ran over a passenger van carrying nine miners on 31 October 2017. The driver of the van and the miner in the front seat were fatally injured. Of the remaining seven miners, one suffered a non-life threatening injury.
Best Practices:
- When approaching large mobile equipment, do not proceed until you communicate and verify with the equipment operator your planned movement and location. Provide radio communication systems between vehicles and large mobile equipment.
- Ensure, by signal or other means, that all persons are clear before moving equipment.
- Minimize situations where smaller vehicles need to approach large haul trucks (e.g., arrange for haul truck drivers to have supplies available at the pre-shift meeting place, rather than delivering supplies to the truck).
- Do not drive or park smaller vehicles in a large truck's potential path of movement.
- Equip smaller vehicles with flags or strobe lights positioned high enough to be seen from the cabs of haulage trucks.
- Install and maintain proximity detection or collision avoidance/warning systems and cameras.
