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Trucks Present Dangers at Surface Mine Operations

Today we’d like to take the time to tell you about a case our legal team took on recently. During the dark early morning hours on a surface mine, a highwall drill operator with a wife and two children was killed. He was killed when the small portal van in which he was a passenger was pushed, run over and crushed by an enormous rock truck weighing over 126 tons empty and capable of carrying 190 tons. The enormous rock truck with a length of 42 feet and a width of 22 feet and tires over 11 feet tall limits the driver’s line of sight and has significant blind spots.  The surface mine rock trucks are so large that the drivers who are sitting some 20 feet above the ground have huge blind spots where they cannot see other vehicles or miners working nearby. The portal van used to transport miners to their work sites had an inoperable strobe light. The non-functioning strobe light had been reported to management and maintenance and not repaired or replaced. Strobe lights are necessary for safe movement of people and equipment at the surface mine. Result As a result of discovery efforts and investigation, […]

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Do I Have a Case Due to My Spouse Being Electrocuted?

One of the saddest things we see as lawyers at Segal & Amos, PLLC occurs when a man or woman comes to us and tells us they’ve lost their spouse due to being electrocuted. Without question, our heart goes out to these victims. Electrocution Causes Electrical mishaps result in thousands of injuries and deaths each year in the United States.  Many of these injuries and deaths occur in the workplace.  At both work and home, some electrocutions involve negligence or actionable conduct such as unsafe working conditions, insufficient training, manufacturing or design defects in tools or appliances, shoddy workmanship by a repair person or failure to fix or repair a damaged power line.  The leading causes of electrocutions are contact with overhead power lines, wiring, transformers and other electrical parts.  Often, tools, appliances or light fixtures are involved as well. Electrocution Injuries Exposure to electricity can result in a wide array of injuries including internal and external burns, abnormal heart rhythm and kidney damage.  In some circumstances, electrocution can cause damage to the nerves and to the brain resulting in seizures, short-term memory loss and personality changes. Electricity provides us great comfort.  Life as we know it would cease to

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Segal & Amos, PLLC Represents Coal Miners and Their Families

Coal mining is a way of life in West Virginia. It is part of our rich heritage. At Segal & Amos, PLLC, we honor our miners, their families and our mining communities. We all know that mining is hard and dangerous work. Coal miners know every shift the dangers that they face. Mining dangers are present whether working underground or in surface operations. Sadly, West Virginia typically leads the nation in mining injuries and deaths. These injuries and deaths occur despite the fact that federal and state legislation and regulation exists to help provide safe working conditions for our family and friends in the coal and mining industry. The rules must be followed by management. All too often, the safety rules are violated. Mine operators have a duty to see that safety standards are in place and well known. Operators are responsible for training miners on safety matters. Far too often, we learn of a red hat or apprentice miner who is a victim of serious injuries or who is killed. Our extensive experience in coal mining litigation informs us that there are generally several factors and rules violations that lead to injury and death. We have aggressively represented coal

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“Watch Out” Is Not a Safety Plan in the Mines

When the lawyers at Segal & Amos, PLLC begin investigating serious mining injuries or deaths, we often hear that the pre-shift safety meeting consists simply of being told things such as “watch out,” “be careful,” or “watch that loose top.” These words of caution are not safety plans or safety meetings such as one would expect to see with a mine operator striving to follow the safety rules and provide a safe mining environment. The lawyers at Segal & Amos, PLLC represented the family of an experienced miner who was killed in a fatal rib fall incident. He left his wife, two sons and other family and friends to grieve a senseless death. The deceased miner was an experienced roofbolter. Adverse mining conditions were experienced by the continuous miner operator and helper to such an extent that they were instructed to reduce mining cut depth. They also started using the continuous miner to scrape at loose rib material. When the deceased went into that entry, he and another roofbolter were instructed to “watch that place.” Watching was not adequate. The roofbolters were just beginning to bolt a third row when a section of mine rib some almost 14 feet long

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