A broken hinge on a bulldozer skid plate played a central role in the March death of a mechanic at a Fayette County coal processing site, state investigators have found.

But the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training did not cite mine operator Appalachian Fuels for the broken hinge.

Agency investigators concluded that two violations they did cite did not contribute to the March 12 death of mechanic John G. Workman.

Workman, 47, was killed when he was pinned under a metal plate he was trying to remove from a bulldozer so he could fix the dozer's fuel system.

The accident occurred at Appalachian Fuels' Alloy Preparation Plant at Boomer, Fayette County. Workman was a self-employed contractor for his Winfield-based Workman Repair Service.

Workman is the only coal industry worker to die on the job so far this year in West Virginia, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The accident occurred as Workman tried to remove a metal plate, called a belly-pan, which serves to protect fuel lines, electrical wires and hydraulic hoses on the underside of the dozer, state inspector Garry Wolfe told the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety Wednesday.

Workman had attached the belly-pan to a truck-mounted crane, which he was operating by remote control. The crane was supposed to help keep the belly-pan from falling when Workman removed the bolts that held it to the dozer, Wolfe said.

A broken hinge on a bulldozer skid plate played a central role in the March death of a mechanic at a Fayette County coal processing site, state investigators have found.

But the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training did not cite mine operator Appalachian Fuels for the broken hinge.

Agency investigators concluded that two violations they did cite did not contribute to the March 12 death of mechanic John G. Workman.

Workman, 47, was killed when he was pinned under a metal plate he was trying to remove from a bulldozer so he could fix the dozer's fuel system.

The accident occurred at Appalachian Fuels' Alloy Preparation Plant at Boomer, Fayette County. Workman was a self-employed contractor for his Winfield-based Workman Repair Service.

Workman is the only coal industry worker to die on the job so far this year in West Virginia, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The accident occurred as Workman tried to remove a metal plate, called a belly-pan, which serves to protect fuel lines, electrical wires and hydraulic hoses on the underside of the dozer, state inspector Garry Wolfe told the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety Wednesday.

Workman had attached the belly-pan to a truck-mounted crane, which he was operating by remote control. The crane was supposed to help keep the belly-pan from falling when Workman removed the bolts that held it to the dozer, Wolfe said.

Wolfe said that the chain from the crane to the belly-pan was hooked up incorrectly, and that Workman should not have placed himself directly under the belly-pan.

But if the hinge had not been broken, Wolfe said, the belly-pan probably would not have fallen the way it did. Workman probably did not know the hinge was broken, Wolfe said.

Appalachian Fuels was cited for not specifically training Workman for work at the preparation plant site, and for not including Workman on a list of contractors at the operation, Wolfe said. Neither was categorized as a contributing violation, Wolfe said.

Typically, Caterpillar, which made the bulldozer, recommends performing the kind of work Wolfe did in a shop with a special jack, Wolfe said. There are no written procedures for doing it in the field, he said.

Other mine operators are looking into the situation, trying to come up with a safer way to do a common job, Wolfe said.

"This accident got a lot of looks from several mines," he said.

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.