February 22, 2021 - On February 8, 2021, a miner was fatally injured when he became entangled in a fluted tail pulley while attempting to shovel under an adjacent fluted tail pulley.

Best Practices

• Design, install, and maintain area guards with signage and locks in addition to the physical barrier. Find more information on area guarding at https://www.msha.gov/guarding-slide-presentation-guarding-conveyor-belts-metal-and-nonmetal-mines.
• Design and maintain secure guards so miners can perform routine maintenance on belt conveyor systems without contacting moving machine parts.
• Do not perform work on a belt conveyor until the power is off, locked out and tagged, and machinery components are blocked against motion.
• Never clean pulleys or idlers manually while belt conveyors are operating.
• Establish policies and procedures for conducting specific tasks on belt conveyors.
• Ensure that people assigned to work on belt conveyors are task trained, understand the associated hazards, and demonstrate safe work procedures before beginning work.
• Ensure all new miners receive new miner training and task training.

Miners and mine operators can find safety and health information on MSHA.gov.