BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) mine investigators have issued a final report on a fatal mining accident on a Mingo County strip job from this past February.
The report stated that dozer operator Billy Mapes, 73, was killed when his machine overturned on the Grapevine South Surface Mine near Matewan in Mingo County.
The mine is owned and operated by Appalachian Resources West Virginia LLC. Mapes was employed by LMS Excavating LLC of Freeburn, Kentucky. LMS was a contractor doing reclamation work on the strip job at the time of the accident, the federal investigation said.
Federal investigators concluded Mapes was tramming the dozer to an area to be parked for the night when the accident occurred. The MSHA documents indicated the area where he was headed had large boulders to restrict access to the area due to an earlier embankment failure.
The report concluded Mapes used the large dozer to move the rocks out of his way, then repositioned them.
The report alleged he dragged the blade backward to repair damage to the road, but rolled over the embankment where the previous bank failure had occurred. The dozer rolled to the bottom of the embankment.
Mapes was ejected 149 feet above where the dozer finally came to rest.
The overturned dozer was not discovered for more than two hours later when a security guard on the mine property spotted it and went to investigate. Mapes was found uphill from the site with no pulse. Paramedics were dispatched to the scene and Mapes was pronounced dead at a Huntington hospital around 4:10 p.m.
MSHA issued a pair of citations to the mine operator Appalachian Resources West Virginia LLC for failing to secure the scene ahead of the investigating team’s arrival and for failing to properly advise the contractor of the mine plan and safety hazards like the embankment failure.
Mapes’ employer, LMS Excavating, was cited for failure to require him to wear a seat belt as he operated the dozer.
(Information for this story provided by WV MetroNews.)