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USMRA member, Theodore Clayton Milligan, and Dale R. Spring die in rescue related accident.
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In the News . . .
October 25, 2003
By ADELLA HARDING
Free Press Staff Writer
ELKO - Neutronics Inc.'s chairman and chief executive officer, Terry
Halpern, said Thursday a lawsuit families filed against his company over two
mine fatalities has no merit, and the suit took him by surprise.
"There is no question we will blow this lawsuit out of the water," said
Halpern, citing U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration findings that
Dale Spring, 49, of Spring Creek and Theodore Milligan, 38, of Elko failed
to insert cooling packs into their breathing apparatus.
Our people are very hurt and dismayed over this, he said in a telephone
interview from Pennsylvania.
Halpern said employees of Biomarine Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Neutronics, knew the two miners who died, and they were saddened by their
deaths, but the fault wasnšt with the equipment.
Spring and Milligan died after checking out Barrick Gold Explorationšs Storm
underground decline on the Carlin Trend last year at Barrickšs request.
They were part of an experienced rescue team that was combining the
assessment of Storm with a drill.
The team worked for Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. The exploration arm of
Barrick Gold Corp. is exploring the Rossi Project, using the Storm decline.
The portal is in the wall of the Dee open pit no longer being mined.
Storm had been shut down for a couple of years so there was no ventilation,
and the temperatures were as high as 104 degrees. Spring and Milligan were
overcome by the heat and lack of oxygen, according to MSHA.
Safety inspectors immediately took all the breathing equipment they were
using for testing, and Halpern said the two men hadnšt installed frozen
Gel-Pak/Gel Tubes in their apparatus that were crucial to cool the air
they breathed.
"They also hadnšt shaved their goatees as required for a good seal," Halpern
said.
MSHA's findings say the same thing, and MSHA cited Barrick for failure to
see that the men had installed their frozen packs and taken the necessary
safety precautions.
Barrick also was blamed for not having adequate communication between the
men inside Storm and the surface.
John Echeverria of Reno, an attorney for Cynthia Milligan and family, said
earlier this month that the manufacturer should design the equipment so it
doesnšt work without the frozen packs so users are immediately aware they
havenšt installed them.
He also said he and the Spring family lawyer, Thomas Brennan of Reno, have
"some issues" with the MSHA findings on the fatalities.
Halpern said Neutronics has been in business since 1988 and supplied
"thousands and thousands" of its breathing apparatus over the years without a
fatality, prior to the Storm deaths.
"No one forgets to put a Gel-Tube in these," Halpern said.
Halpern also said his company hadn't received a copy of the lawsuit and only
learned of it through news stories. They then obtained a copy from the Elko
County Courthouse.
The families of the two victims are asking for compensation for their pain
and suffering and punitive damages over the deaths of the two men, and they
maintain the manufacturer of the Biopack self-contained breathing apparatus
was at fault.
The lawyers also cite inspection reports on the equipment that showed one of
the oxygen cylinders shipped with one of the apparatus had a bad gauge and
one had two leaks.
Exton, Pa.-based Neutronics issued a statement Friday that the MSHA facts
make it clear that the accident was not related to equipment failure but to
human error.
Neutronics chief defends company in Nevada suit
ELKO, Nev. (AP)
October 31, 2003
The president of a company that makes breathing equipment
defended the apparatus and said it played no part in the deaths of two
miners in Elko.
Terry Halpern, president and chief executive officer of Neutronics Inc.,
told the Elko Daily Free Press that the lawsuit filed by the families of the
two men took him by surprise and is without merit.
There is no question we will blow this lawsuit out of the water, Halpern
told the newspaper in a story published Friday.
An investigation by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration
determined that Dale Spring, 49, of Spring Creek and Theodore Milligan, 38,
of Elko failed to insert required cooling packs into their breathing
apparatus.
The suit, filed Oct. 17 in Elko District Court, seeks compensation for pain
and suffering and punitive damages from Neutronics and subsidiary Biomarine
Inc., both of Exton, Pa.
Spring and Milligan died after checking out Barrick Gold Exploration Inc.'s
Storm underground decline on the Carlin Trend last year at Barrick's
request.
They were part of an experienced team that was combining the assessment of
Storm with a rescue drill. According to the mine safety administration's
report, the team advanced into the mine on Oct. 17, 2002, but Milligan and
Spring ran into problems climbing back out after reporting temperatures
reached 104 degrees.
Spring died at the scene. Investigators attributed his death to multiple
organ failure from environmental exposure.
Milligan was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City, where he died six days
later. His death was blamed on a lack of oxygen to the brain from
environmental exposure, according to the report.
Inspectors tested the breathing equipment used by the team and found that
Spring and Milligan hadn't installed frozen gel packs needed to cool the air
as they breathe.
They also hadn't shaved their goatees as required for a good seal, Halpern
said.
Barrick was cited by the MSHA for failure to see that the men had installed
their frozen packs and taken the necessary safety precautions. Barrick also
was blamed for not having adequate communication between the men inside
Storm and the surface.
John Echeverria of Reno, an attorney for Cynthia Milligan and family, said
earlier this month that the manufacturer should design the equipment so it
doesn't work without the frozen packs so users are immediately aware they
haven't installed them.
He also said he and the Spring family's lawyer, Thomas Brennan of Reno, have
"some issues" with the MSHA findings.
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