The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is making a West Virginia company pay a high price for its poorly maintained watering and equipment trucks.

The MSHA has proposed $165,000 in civil penalties against Bresee Trucking and $45,000 against Guest Mountain Mining Corp because of an truck wreck caused by brake failure on one of these trucks that led to the permanent disability of a contract truck driver.

“Federal law states that every miner is required — and entitled — to receive the necessary training to perform his job safely and correctly,” said Richard Stickler, acting assistant secretary of Labor for mine safety and health. “Due to inadequate training and faulty equipment, a miner has been seriously injured. The mine operator and contractor must be held accountable for their violation of the law.”

The MSHA said the driver was watering a main haul road from a water truck and missed a gear as he was descending a steep grade. He accelerated downhill in neutral, and “he was unable to slow the truck due to a brake system malfunction”

“The truck left the road, crossed a ditch and decelerated rapidly in drainage sumps, causing the water tank to detach from the truck frame and slide onto the cab,” the agency said. “MSHA’s accident investigators examined the brake system and discovered missing components and significant air leaks.

Bresee Trucking was cited for failing to provide task training and hazard training to the driver, as well as failing to have adequate brakes equipped on its mobile equipment. The mine operator was cited for failure to provide hazard training.”

This year, the MSHA has issued $162 million in civil penalties with 170,000 citations.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Negligence, Truck Accidents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.