Published: June 18, 2009 09:50 pm      

Feds blame lack of rules for fatal mining accident

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Federal investigators say a lack of policies and procedures for operating underground locomotives contributed to a fatal accident at a Consol Energy operation in West Virginia last October.

A Mine Safety and Health Administration report issued Thursday says the McElroy Mine didn’t require locomotive operators to tell each other where they were stopping. Nor were miners barred from working between locomotives and rail cars unless they knew the location of any trailing locomotive.

Fifty-eight-year-old Victor Goudy was pinned between a locomotive and a rail car that were struck by a second locomotive in October 2008.

Canonsburg, Pa.-based Consol did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Consol operates mines in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Utah.