Excavator operator Richard Yonts, 49, a 20-year mining veteran, was working at Fairbanks Coal’s No. 4 mine in Wise County the morning of December 7 when a highwall he was working near collapsed.

The operator’s cab of the unit, which was being used to load rock trucks, was positioned on the highwall side when the accident occurred.

Federal investigators reported shortly after the accident that the highwall was wet and unstable due to heavy rains in the area.

To help prevent future similar incidents at other US mines, federal officials compiled best practices stressing the operation of excavators with the cab perpendicular to and away from the highwall as well as bench design to accommodate the equipment.

Thorough examinations are also crucial, MSHA noted, from as many perspectives as possible – including the bottom, sides and top/crest – while maintaining examiner safety. Individuals should look for hazardous issues such as cracking or other geologic discontinuities.

When performing highwall examinations at night, auxiliary lighting should be used for illumination, and supplemental examinations of the highwall as well as banks, benches and sloping terrain are vital during inclement weather.

If any unsafe conditions are identified, all personnel exposed to the condition should be removed and signage and barricades should be erected to prevent entry. Unsafe conditions should be promptly corrected.

Finally, the agency said, foreman and miners alike that are coming to work on any uncorrected hazardous condition should be briefed of such, and any hazards should be noted in the mine’s on-shift examination record book.

Yonts’ death was the 21st in coal mining in 2011, and the fifth classified by MSHA as a fall of highwall/rib/face fatality.

According to MSHA data, the bituminous Fairbanks No. 4 mine and Fairbanks Coal is controlled by Wesley Burke.

The highwall collapse fatality came just weeks following the deaths of two workers in Kentucky.

On October 28, 47-year-old lead blaster Darrel Winstead and 23-year-old blaster helper Samuel Lindsey died at the Equality mine near Madisonville after being crushed by rocks and debris that fell completely over their 1-ton pickup truck from a failed highwall.