Dyno Nobel has employed me as a blaster for 7 ½ years. Kentucky Fuel Inc, and we were contracted Dyno Nobel to do there blasting at the Beech Creek Surface mine. Blaster Dave Fannin and I alternated the blasting on the Beech Creek Surface Mine. Perry Ryder was the superintendent; he conducted the on-shift examinations and told us where we were to blast each day.
On January 13, 2016, Dave Fannin telephone me to tell me he and Superintendent Perry Ryder went out to the Nursing Home Point on the Beech Creek Surface Mine site to discuss where they were drilling . Fannin called me because I was scheduled to fill in for him on January 14, 2016, at the Beech Creek Surface Mine and he wanted to let me know what was going on. Fannin said he told Ryder that I (Hatfield) would want the …show more content…
I saw large rocks lying on the slope, and that the catch bench needed cleaning. I went around the hill and found Ryder, I told him he needed to clean out the catch bench. Ryder told me no, it was too hard to clean, and the excavator was acting up. I told Ryder that I was shooting the shot flat on top, which meant the outside of the shot would not move. Ryder said that would be fine they would chip off the outside with a chipper. I made the decision to shoot the shot flat because the bench was not built up enough, there was no fencing, and the shot was 970 feet uphill from several residences below. The drill operator drilled 32 holes 15 feet in depth down to the coal and 20 feet from the outside of the bench on the Nursing Home Point. However, when I loaded the drilled holes I held the stemming back and I only used a foot of powder in the outside holes, because I knew it would not move allowing for better control of a smaller shot. I put enough powder in the drilled holes to break the rock, but not enough to create too much
On January 13, 2016, Dave Fannin telephone me to tell me he and Superintendent Perry Ryder went out to the Nursing Home Point on the Beech Creek Surface Mine site to discuss where they were drilling . Fannin called me because I was scheduled to fill in for him on January 14, 2016, at the Beech Creek Surface Mine and he wanted to let me know what was going on. Fannin said he told Ryder that I (Hatfield) would want the …show more content…
I saw large rocks lying on the slope, and that the catch bench needed cleaning. I went around the hill and found Ryder, I told him he needed to clean out the catch bench. Ryder told me no, it was too hard to clean, and the excavator was acting up. I told Ryder that I was shooting the shot flat on top, which meant the outside of the shot would not move. Ryder said that would be fine they would chip off the outside with a chipper. I made the decision to shoot the shot flat because the bench was not built up enough, there was no fencing, and the shot was 970 feet uphill from several residences below. The drill operator drilled 32 holes 15 feet in depth down to the coal and 20 feet from the outside of the bench on the Nursing Home Point. However, when I loaded the drilled holes I held the stemming back and I only used a foot of powder in the outside holes, because I knew it would not move allowing for better control of a smaller shot. I put enough powder in the drilled holes to break the rock, but not enough to create too much