Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

A coal truck driver killed in an October accident was driving an overloaded truck with a defective Jake brake switch, according to a federal report.

The driver, Darrell T. Seiber, 48, of Anderson County’s Devonia community also hadn’t received required miner training and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration report states.

Five citations were issued against National Coal Corp. of Knoxville and four citations were leveled against Cox Trucking of Wartburg in connection with the wreck.

Seiber was a recently hired contract driver with Cox Trucking.

Civil fines to be levied against the two firms haven’t been set yet, an administration spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Seiber died when his Mack truck overturned on a steep grade of a mine haul road. A Tennessee Highway Patrol report stated he had been driving too fast for road conditions.

According to the probe, “the contractor and mine operator failed to assure that defects affecting safety were corrected before the truck was put in service.”

The incident marked the first fatal accident on any coal mine property in Tennessee since 2004. It also prompted the Tuesday filing of a wrongful death lawsuit in Anderson County against National Coal Corp.

Seiber’s widow and 22-year-old son are plaintiffs in the complaint, which seeks $10 million in punitive damages and a $7 million compensatory judgment.

According to the lawsuit, the truck was overloaded, a contributing factor that constitutes “severe recklessness,” the complaint alleges.

There aren’t standards in its federal codes to cite a mine operator for overloaded trucks, Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said.

According to both the investigation and lawsuit, the truck was missing a Jake brake switch. Without that switch, the brake wouldn’t engage when the accelerator pedal was released, according to the federal probe.

Both the trucking firm and National Coal were cited because Seiber, who was employed in mid-September, hadn’t received “initial miner training,” according to the investigation report.

Dan Roling, president and CEO of National Coal, had no comment Wednesday. Efforts to contact Cox Trucking for comment were unsuccessful.