Shuttlecar operator John Myles, 44, was killed after being crushed by the battery end of a section scoop as he worked near the rib on the night of February 19.

“The accident occurred on the No. 3 section in the first connecting crosscut inby the feeder between the Number 5 and 6 entries,” a preliminary report from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration revealed this week.

“The victim was shovelling along the ribs of the crosscut when a battery-powered scoop backed into the crosscut, striking him.”

Myles was unconscious when he was transported to Raleigh County General Hospital in Beckley, where he later died.

The worker had four years’ experience as a miner and had been at Affinity for 14 months prior to his death.

In an effort to prevent future fatalities at US coal operations, MSHA issued a series of best practices, including the installation and use of proximity detection systems on continuous mining machines and haulage equipment.

The agency is asking operators to train miners to use effective means of communication around mobile equipment and to know their location relative to the movement of mobile equipment.

“Assume the equipment operator has not seen you unless eye contact is confirmed and signal your presence to equipment operators,” investigators said.

MSHA also is urging the use of cameras on section haulage equipment and utility equipment such as scoops to improve operator visibility and to sound audible warnings at times of limited or obstructed visibility including when traveling around turns or blind spots or through ventilation curtains.

It also reminded mines to never position extraneous material or supplies on top of mobile equipment, or position the machine's batteries in a way that could interfere with or obstruct the visibility of the machine operator.

Myles’ death, which has been classified by MSHA as powered haulage, was the sixth this year in US coal. He was the second miner over two weeks in February to lose his life at the Affinity mine.