Company fined $31,500 for safety violations in Kentucky coal preparation plant collapse

MARTIN COUNTY, KY (WOWK) — The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet fined Skeens Enterprises $31,500 for safety violations in the coal preparation plant collapse that killed Billy Ray Daniels and Alvin Nees, the two men who died in that collapse in Martin County in October 2023 .

The fines were issued on April 30. This comes after an investigation found five “serious” safety violations before the collapse. This includes not telling workers or exposing them to unsafe conditions, not having a person who was certified in first aid at the job site, failing to have an engineering survey done by “a competent person,” not ensuring walls and floors were braced before work began, and not making sure the structure was not overstressed, according to documents provided to 13 News.

Ace Welding & Fabricating LLC was also fined $28,000 in the coal preparation plant collapse.

The search for the two men was finished around three days after the collapse, which Dr. Lafferty said was first called in around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31 . Crews from Martin, Pike and Floyd counties responded. Their bodies were recovered around 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2023 .

Nees and Daniels, both from Pike County and believed to be working for Skeens Contracting from Pikeville, were trapped under tons of concrete and steel in the building at Martin Mine Prep Plant near Middlefork Wolfe Creek Road, according to Martin County Judge Executive Lon Lafferty. Gov. Andy Beshear declared a State of Emergency following the collapse.

Lafferty described the scene as “horrific” and compared it to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Jeremy Slinker, Director of Kentucky Emergency Management, compared it to a candle factory disaster where a number of workers died when a tornado leveled the building.

The Associated Press reported that Slinker said this could be the largest structural collapse in Kentucky history. They also reported that Lexington Coal Company LLC had contracted Skeens Enterprises for site demolition and salvage operations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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