Toolbox Talks

A loaded haul truck driver cannot see a pickup within 60+ feet of the front bumper or anywhere close on the right side. People die in these zones every year — usually people who worked at the mine for years.

• Never approach a haul truck until you have radio or horn acknowledgment and the operator waves you in.
• Park light vehicles OUTSIDE the operating pattern — never in a spot the operator hasn't confirmed.
• Buggy whips, strobes, and radios are not optional accessories; they are how you stay visible and alive.
• If you lose sight of a small vehicle near your truck: STOP. Don't guess.

One rule saves lives here: no eye contact or radio contact, no approach. Ever.

Rock falls without warning — but it almost always warns somebody first: fresh cracks, raveling, water seeps, material at the toe that wasn't there yesterday.

• Scale the schedule: examine highwalls after every rain, freeze-thaw, and blast — before anyone works below.
• Never work or park under a wall that hasn't been examined this shift.
• Report new cracks, seeps, sloughing, or overhangs immediately — that report is the exam.
• Respect the toe: keep equipment and people outside the fall zone unless the wall is verified.

The wall doesn't care how long you've worked here. Look up, look often, report everything new.

Most crusher and conveyor fatalities happen during maintenance on equipment somebody thought was dead. Thought is the problem.

• Lock it, tag it, then TRY IT — hit the start button and verify zero energy before you reach in.
• Every person on the job hangs their OWN lock. No sharing, no 'the other guy's lock covers me.'
• Stored energy counts: gravity on a raised gate, tension in a belt, pressure in a line, a loaded chute.
• Only the person who hung the lock removes it.

Try-out is the step that finds the mislabeled breaker. Lock, tag, TRY — every time.

Respirable crystalline silica doesn't hurt today. It scars your lungs permanently over years, and there is no cure for silicosis — only prevention.

• Wet it or vent it: water sprays, enclosed cabs with filtration, dust collection at transfer points.
• Respirators are the LAST line — fit-tested, clean-shaven, right cartridge — not the first.
• Don't dry-sweep or use compressed air on silica dust; wet methods or HEPA vacuum only.
• Cab doors and windows closed, filters maintained — a cab with the window down is furniture, not protection.

You won't feel the exposure that gets you. Control the dust you can see and the habit controls the dust you can't.

Rollover fatalities in loaders, dozers, and water trucks share one detail with brutal consistency: the operator was unbelted and didn't survive a survivable event.

• Belt on before the machine moves — pit vehicle, pickup, or 100-ton truck. No exceptions for 'just moving it.'
• ROPS only works if you stay in the seat. Ejection is how rollovers kill.
• Check belt condition during pre-op: frayed webbing and broken buckles get red-tagged.
• Berm strikes and edge failures happen at walking speed. Slow doesn't mean safe.

The machine is engineered to protect a belted operator. Unbelted, you're cargo.

Backing incidents are the most common equipment-damage event on any site — and the most preventable. Every one traces to an assumption.

• No spotter, no backing in congested areas. The spotter stays visible in the mirror at all times.
• Lose sight of your spotter? STOP until you reacquire them.
• Agree on signals before the move, not during it.
• Walk your route first when arriving anywhere new — 30 seconds of walking beats a crushed pickup.

If you can't see the spotter, the answer is the brake pedal.

A moving belt pulls at hundreds of feet per minute. By the time you feel the nip point, you're already in it — gloves, sleeves, and hands don't win against head pulleys.

• Guards go back on before the belt runs — after every maintenance job, no exceptions.
• Never shovel, chip, or grease near a moving belt's pinch points; lock it out first.
• Crossovers only — never step over, under, or ride a belt.
• Report missing or damaged guards like the emergency they are.

The belt doesn't grab you — it accepts what gets close enough. Stay behind the guard.

The least dramatic injuries fill the most incident reports. Spilled fines on walkways, hoses across stairs, mud on catwalks — boring hazards, real surgeries.

• Clean as you go: spillage on a walkway is a hazard the moment it lands, not at end of shift.
• Three points of contact on ladders, stairs, and equipment — hands free, gear in a bag.
• Cords and hoses get routed overhead or covered, never draped across travel paths.
• Report chronic spillage points — fixing the transfer chute beats shoveling it forever.

Nobody brags about preventing a broken ankle. Prevent them anyway.

Portable power on a mine site lives a hard life — and a cord with a missing ground pin in a wet plant is a circuit looking for a body.

• Inspect cords and cap lamps every shift: cuts, missing ground pins, taped-over damage = out of service.
• GFCI protection on portable tools and pumps, tested monthly, no exceptions in wet areas.
• Only qualified electricians open panels. 'It's just a breaker' is how unqualified people meet electricity.
• Treat every downed or damaged cable as energized until proven otherwise.

Electricity gives no warning shot and takes no apology. Inspect, ground, GFCI.

Twenty hours awake impairs you like legal intoxication. Long shifts, night rotations, and side jobs stack up — and fatigue-related events cluster between 2–6 AM and mid-afternoon.

• Self-report when you're not fit — a supervisor can adjust a task; nobody can adjust a rollover.
• Watch each other: drifting equipment, missed radio calls, and long blinks are your buddy's warning signs.
• Use breaks as recovery, not as phone time — 5 minutes of movement resets alertness better than caffeine alone.
• Plan sleep like maintenance: the machine that skips PM eventually fails at the worst time.

You wouldn't run a truck with failing brakes. Don't run yourself past yours.

The fire usually starts AFTER the welder leaves — a smoldering conveyor belt, grease in a chute, hydraulic mist on a hot manifold.

• Permit it: clear combustibles 35 feet, wet down what can't move, cover belts and hoses.
• Fire watch stays 30–60 minutes AFTER the last spark — with an extinguisher, doing nothing else.
• Check the far side: sparks travel through chute walls, floor gaps, and behind liners.
• Never cut on a container, tank, or barrel until it's verified clean and vented.

The most dangerous minute of a welding job starts when the hood comes off.

Miners in their first year get hurt at multiples of the veteran rate — not because they're careless, but because they don't yet know what normal looks like.

• New folks: ask. Every question you swallow is a hazard you'll meet unbriefed.
• Veterans: your job is to be askable. The rookie copying your shortcut inherits your risk without your judgment.
• Task training before new tasks — 'watch me once' is not training, it's a liability with witnesses.
• Know your escape routes, muster points, and who the first responders are before you need them.

Culture is what the newest person sees the oldest person do. Make it worth copying.