Forester stable after 28-foot fall down mine shaft in Tuscaloosa County

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama
A forester is in stable condition at DCH Regional Medical Center after falling 28 feet into an abandoned mine shaft near Coaling in Tuscaloosa County, where he spent around 20 hours before being rescued Saturday morning.

The Westervelt Co. employee, who company officials say  wishes not to be identified publicly, accidentally stepped onto the opening of the mine shaft and fell around 12:30 p.m. Friday while working in the area. The opening to the shaft, measuring 4 feet by 4 feet, was hidden by vines that had grown over the opening and other debris.

Company spokesman Robby Johnson said the man has been a company employee for 25 years.

The company provided the following account: When the man did not return home in the evening, his wife contacted family, friends and the company. They formed a search and rescue team on the property where he had planned to work that day, but the effort was suspended at 2 a.m. due to darkness.

After the search resumed later that morning, members of the team located the man's company truck with his cell phone inside. The man later responded to calls from rescuers, and Westervelt associates removed him from the shaft around 9 a.m. They then transported him to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries.

According to safety coordinator Jimmy Swindle, Westervelt's Natural Resources division's employees are trained on mine shafts as potential occupational hazards. Their safety procedures also include a system to keep track of workers' locations in the field.

“Our foresters utilize a lone-worker process to account for their whereabouts when they are in the field, posting their planned daily schedule on a board in the office and touching base if the schedule varies,” Swindle said.

Westervelt has been investigating the accident and is working to begin the process of filling the shaft.

“The mine shaft in question has been heavily studied over the past few days as we've pieced the facts together," Swindle said "It appears to be part of a very old iron ore mine, probably not used for over 100 years, which has given it plenty of time to become an undetectable hidden hazard."

Swindle said the company, which owns nearly 500,000 acres of timberland across the Southeast, fills identified mine shafts with dirt using a backhoe. In some cases, Westervelt has been assisted by the State of Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Mining and Reclamation Division.

“In West Alabama, mine shafts are a potential hazard to anyone in wooded areas, particularly because they can be so camouflaged and undetectable," Swindle said. "Regardless, we will continue identifying ways to improve our safety processes to minimize this risk.”