Carson City mine cited in bulldozer death

MSHA's final report on the March 4, 2022, fatality at the Brunswick Canyon Materials sand and gravel mine in Carson City said this bulldozer tumbled about 65 feet to the quarry floor.

This photo from MSHA's final report on the March 4, 2022 fatality at the Brunswick Canyon Materials sand and gravel mine in Carson City shows the benches where Robert Covington was doing bulldozer work.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued its final report on the March 4, 2022 fatality at the Brunswick Canyon Materials surface construction sand and gravel mine in Carson City.

The report says that at about 10:55 a.m. on March 4, Robert Covington, a 37-year-old bulldozer operator, died from injuries he sustained when the bulldozer he was operating traveled over the highwall and tumbled about 65 feet to the quarry floor.

According to the MSHA report, Covington had more than eight years of mining experience, during which he worked as an equipment operator, a leadman, and a shift supervisor at three different mines. He had operated 13 types of bulldozers.

He had been working at Brunswick Canyon Materials a little less than a month. At Brunswick Canyon he started out operating a John Deere Model 1050K bulldozer, and was on his fourth day of operating a Liebherr PR 756XL flat track bulldozer at the mine when the accident occurred.

Investigators determined that the condition of the bulldozer, the communications equipment and the weather did not contribute to the accident.

At the time of the accident Brunswick Canyon Materials employed six miners. As part of the process of moving material at the mine, a bulldozer removes and pushes material from the top of the highwall into a slot cut, a narrow trench cut into a highwall. The bulldozer pushes the material along the slot cut and then out to the quarry floor, where the material is picked up by a front-end loader.

In an interview with MSHA the mine's general manager said he directed Covington to take the bulldozer to the top of the highwall of Bench #1 and push material toward the slot cut. According to interviews with other miners who were on the job that day, Covington instead pushed material from Bench #1 to Bench #2 for about three hours. Three men saw Covington on Bench #1 pushing large boulders to Bench #2 below.

The general manager said he observed Covington twice during the three-hour period and was not alarmed at anything Covington was doing at those moments.

According to interviews, Covington trammed the bulldozer over the top of Bench #1 to Bench #2 and began pushing large rocks and boulders off the end of Bench #2. Covington began pushing an approximately five-foot wide, ten-foot long, and three-foot thick boulder over the side of Bench #2 to Bench #3 below. When the boulder went over the edge of Bench #2, the bulldozer also went over and landed at a steep angle with the blade resting on the boulder. One observer saw the tracks of the bulldozer moving into reverse, but the bulldozer was unable to move back up to Bench #2.

People working at the mine witnessed the bulldozer begin to move forward and tip onto its right side, off the top of the boulder. They watched the bulldozer roll over Bench #2, land on Bench #3, roll over Bench #3, and come to rest on the cab on the quarry floor.

The dry plant operator ran to the accident scene, looked into the cab and determined that Covington's injuries were likely fatal.

The MSHA report said Bench #2 was not large enough for Covington's bulldozer to operate safely.

Bench #1, approximately 200 feet above the quarry floor, was a wide sloping area with berms, the report said. Covington pushed the berms over the edge of Bench #1 prior to the accident.

"Investigators could not determine the reason," the report said.

According to the report, Bench #2 was 26 to 29 feet wide. Covington's bulldozer was 26.8 feet long and 9.2 feet wide and the blade was 13 feet wide.

"The mine operator did not barricade to prevent the bulldozer operator from going to Bench #2 or post warning signs to indicate that the bulldozer could not be safely operated on Bench #2," the MSHA report said. "The mine operator did not assure a workplace examination was conducted for Bench #2 prior to Covington tramming to Bench #2. The workplace examination would have identified that there was not sufficient room to safely operate the bulldozer."

MSHA issued three citations to Brunswick Canyon Materials – for failing to assure that the bulldozer operator maintained control of the bulldozer, for failing to put up a barricade or warning signs saying that the bulldozer could not be safely operated on Bench #2, and for failing to conduct a workplace examination which would have identified that there was not sufficient room to safely operate the bulldozer.

The report said that since the accident Brunswick Canyon Materials has established new written procedures on slot bulldozing and trained all miners on the procedures; implemented a new written procedure to assure workplace examinations are conducted before miners begin work and trained all miners on the new procedures; and established new written procedures that require berms and appropriate signage be installed on benches.

As an additional precaution, Brunswick Canyon Materials hired a mining engineering firm to survey the quarry and provide a written mining plan. The plan describes the proper bench widths and heights and specifies the type of equipment which must be used to perform work.

With the report, MSHA listed several best practices, including: Dump loads a safe distance back from the edge of the highwall and push the material over, perform ground condition and workplace examinations, and train miners to safely perform tasks.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Fundraiser today for injured man, family of man who died in Jan. 23 accident.

In its final report on a Jan. 14, 2022, fatality at an underground coal mine in West Virginia, the Mine Safety and Health Administration said …

Following its investigation of the accident MSHA issued three orders and one citation to Nevada Gold Mines

ELKO – The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is advising operators on best practices in handling water pipes following a Jan. 23 fata…

Investigators believe that Herrera lost control of the haul truck, exited the cab, and was impacted by the haul truck.

On Jan. 7, a 49-year-old front-end loader operator died when an approximately 170-ton rock fell from the mine roof onto the cab of the front-e…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration has released the findings of monthly impact inspections at 2…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that monthly impact inspections by its Mine Safety and Health Administration at 16 min…