Tracy Stumbo, Chief Investigator of the Accident Investigation Division
The primary responsibility of the accident investigation team for the Office of Mine Safety and Licensing (OMSL) is to investigate all serious and fatal mining accidents within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The investigation team consists of a chief investigator and two deputy chief investigators. The chief investigator and deputy chief investigators are experienced miners with extensive backgrounds in mine safety. Determining the cause of such accidents is crucial in achieving the desired goal of zero accidents. This group would not be able to accomplish that mission without the assistance and dedication of the mine inspectors, mine safety analysts, mine specialists and other personnel assigned by the OMSL district supervisors to assist in these investigations. As stated in the mission statement for OMSL the Accident Investigation Teams goal is to ensure that all coal miners in the Commonwealth have a safe work environment and to foster safe work practices that will ensure each coal miner returns home uninjured.
Unfortunately, even with the efforts of this agency and the mining industry, coal mining accidents and fatalities do occur. KRS 352.180 requires all serious and fatal accidents to be reported to OMSL immediately.
A serious accident is defined as a physical injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious and prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health, or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.
When a serious or fatal accident is reported to one of the six OMSL districts, a trained accident investigating team is dispatched to the mine site to conduct an investigation. The investigating team, under the supervision of the chief accident investigator, will gather information about the accident to ensure the safety of employees at the mine is not menaced and to generate a written report of the accident. A representative of OMSL shall review the accident with a company official, the victim and/or victim's family at the completion of the report. The report shall then be filed in the OMSL Frankfort office for future record of the accident.
All serious and fatal accident reports filed in the OMSL Frankfort office shall be subject to open records request before being released to the public.
For questions concerning accident investigation or accident reports, please contact the chief accident investigator, Tracy Stumbo at 606-285-3227.