Crushed and Broken Limestone Mining and Quarrying

NarrativeOn August 21, 2012, Employee #1 was working as a truck weigh scale attendant for Barnard Construction Company, Inc., at a dolomite quarry near Lone Pine, California. She had been working for that firm for three years. Her work schedule was Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. Her work place was a metal and glass scale booth, in which she measured temperatures as high as 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius). Complaints to her supervisors concerning the heat in the scale booth and the lack of supplied drinking water went unaddressed as the summer progressed. Employee #1 resigned from Barnard's employ on August 24, 2012. Four days later, on August 26, 2012, she collapsed at home. She was driven to the North Inyo Hospital in Bishop, California, where she was diagnosed with dehydration and loss of electrolytes as well as a urinary tract infection accompanied by a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius). This heat-related illness required four days of hospitalization for treatment. The Division received a report of her illness on September 10, 2012, and an associate safety engineer was dispatched on September 18, 2012, to initiate an inspection at the mine site.

NarrativeAt about 12:15 a.m. on April 18, 2012, Employee #1, a quarry production utility helper at a cement making company, Cemex Construction Materials Pacific Llc, was cleaning the K-3 preheater tower using a 14 ft long high pressure water gun inserted through a 6 in. by 6 in. port. Hot kiln feed material shot out of the annulus damaging the face shield of Employee #1's hood, causing injury to his right eye. Employee #1 was hospitalized. He had been wearing all required personal protective equipment (nomex head "gator," goggles, aluminized fire hood).