 On this edition of Mind Safety and Health News, you'll hear another seat belt success story. This story is quite unusual. Ed Bulldozer and operator tumbled off of a 160-foot high wall and the operator walks away. You want to talk about seat belts? Well, I've got a story for you. Last November, I was operating this D10 Dozer when I fell off the high wall. I fell approximately 160 feet. All I suffered was a scratch on my nose, a little bump on my head. I'm here to tell you to wear your seat belt all the time. We were contacted by radio that there had been an accident. So consequently, we knew just exactly where the ambulance was headed. And we met the ambulance in the bottom of this ramp. At the time we arrived at the bottom of the ramp, Roger had already fallen off the high wall. The Dozer landed on its tracks upright. He un-druckled his seat belt and walked out. That day I was building a ramp because we was going to bench up another bench for the dragline. But 10 o'clock that morning, I had started the ramp. The dragline had moved off the edge and I had started my ramp next to the high wall, working parallel with the high wall. And I'd carried the dirt down to where it towed out next to the dragline. I backed up and was just checking my grade. When it felt like something just grabbed me, pulled me right off the edge of the high wall. The Dozer started to go around. I put it in gear and tried to head downhill so I'd be facing downhill as much as I could. It didn't come around. It went about half ways around. Then it rolled over on its top, set there momentarily. I heard a radio call that a Dozer had went over the edge. While I was sitting there, I picked up the radio and called and answered back. Said I was alright. I was just upside down, set there for a moment and then it took off and slid on down the high wall, approximately 160 feet. About 30 of it was sliding along a one-to-one slope and then the rest of it was free fall. Got close enough to the edge of the wall and working parallel with it but the ground didn't support it. About 8 foot underneath the track of fairly good size rock, I would say probably in the range of maybe 6 foot by 6 foot jumped out from under him. But the Dozer off balance and he just physically rolled sideways. I think he rolled about 2-2.5 times before he hit the bottom of the floor, part of which was a free fall. When they called and told us that the ground tractor went off the high wall, I wasn't expecting to see anybody walk out. And it really surprised me when I seen Roger walking towards us. In short, a drop of that height with that tractor, the stop that that took and then the jar when it rolled those last few 40 feet, it's a miracle that he's alive. You have to give it all to the seat belts and to the roll. When it hit, I thought for sure I was dead. The first thought that come through my mind was, boy, those guys are going to have a tough time digging me out of this mouse. That was the last I remember I blacked out for a while. When I come to, the Dozer was setting right side up, all the glass was broke out, there was dirt, rocks, all kinds of debris all over the inside of the crawler. I had a lump on the side of my head, scratch on my nose. Thanks to seat belts, that's the extent of my injuries. I walked away from it. Since the accident, we've changed our procedures, not only with dozers, track dozers, but with other mobile equipment. And as a result, we don't allow working with him 20 feet of the edge of a high wall in a parallel fashion. If it hadn't been for seat belts, I don't think Roger would have been live today. Well, we do have a policy on the mind side that everybody when they're in company vehicles must wear seat belts. However, if you don't practice safety at home as well as on the job, it doesn't do you any good. So we were concerned about our employees and whether they were wearing their seat belts to and from work. So one morning, or actually four mornings, the managers did a seat belt check. And we met our employees as they came onto the property at the guard shack. And everybody who had their seat belt on got a real big role to say thank you. Those that didn't have their seat belts on got a lump of coal. We've had several of our employees come forward and say, hey, I'm wearing my seat belt. So yeah, we think it's made an impact. We're going to continue to do things like this because we need that safety awareness off the job as well as on the job. They checked us on the way coming into work. They stopped us at the guard shack. They checked if we wore the seat belt, we got a good-sized caramel roll. If individuals weren't wearing the seat belt, they got a lump of coal. That goes to show some of the company's commitment towards safety off the job, too, as well as on the job. I got me a caramel roll, and I thought that was real good. I got the cinnamon roll. As you work out there on the mine site, remember, buckle up. Until the next edition of MSHA News, be safe.