The two deaths within two months in Alabama were the Tampa company's first fatalities in nearly three years.
By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published June 18, 2004
For the second time in two months, a coal miner employed by a subsidiary of Tampa's Walter Industries has died on the job.
Kenneth Battles, 45, died Wednesday after becoming "trapped between a steal beam and a rail car used to transport coal," the company said in a statement. Gary Wayne Keeton, 57, died while cleaning an underground conveyor belt on April 22. Both accidents occurred at Jim Walter Resources' mine No. 7 in Brookwood, Ala. They were the company's first fatalities in nearly three years.
In September 2001, 13 workers died at Jim Walters' mine No. 5 in the worst coal-mining accident since 1984. After a lengthy investigation, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration fined Jim Walter $435,000 in June 2003 for safety violations it said "directly contributed" to the tragedy. Company officials rejected the government's blame-laying and appealed the fine.
The dispute is ongoing. So are 13 wrongful-death lawsuits filed against Jim Walter by surviving family members of the 2001 victims.
The cause of death in the two recent cases is still under investigation. Keeton, a 30-year veteran of Jim Walter, "had been assigned belt-cleaning duties and during the performance of these duties came in contact with the conveyor belt," MSHA said in a news release. "After being carried approximately 9,000 feet by the conveyor system, the victim was found on the surface rock pile by the bulldozer operator."
Walter Industries has sought unsuccessfully for years to sell its coal-mining unit, which it does not consider part of its core business. The subsidiary's fortunes typically rise and fall with the price of coal and natural gas, a byproduct Walter also sells.
Besides Jim Walter Resources, only one other U.S. company has suffered two coal-mining fatalities in 2004, according to government statistics. Walter Industries spokesman John McNeilly said Thursday he doesn't believe Jim Walter has a significant safety problem. "In fact, until the investigations into these (two) incidents are completed, we simply don't have enough information to comment on the causes," he said.
Attempts to reach representatives of the United Mine Workers of America and its Brookwood, Ala., affiliate on Thursday were unsuccessful.
