Regulators blame mine, contractor for worker’s death
RENO - Federal safety regulators are blaming the death of a worker at a gold mine in northeast Nevada on the negligent failure of Newmont USA and its tire contractor to take adequate steps to protect employees from toxic chemicals.
Joe Ashdown, 21, of Roseburg, Ore., died Oct. 28 when he was overcome by hazardous vapors from a chemical solvent while fixing a nearly 12-foot tall tire for a giant mining dump truck at a Newmont mine in Carlin, about 275 miles east of Reno.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration released a report Thursday that stated the Denver-based Newmont and the Purcell Tire & Rubber Co., headquartered in Potosi, Mo., failed to establish procedures and controls to safely repair haul truck tires using glues containing toxic chemicals.
MSHA also faulted the companies for assigning Ashdown - who had worked for Purcell for about 10 months - to "perform this task alone, using a hazardous chemical inside a tire, where he was unable to communicate, be heard, or be seen by others after he was overcome by the vapors."
When Ashdown was overcome, according to the report, he was out of view, working inside the 3-foot-wide well of the tire nearly twice his height.
