The 2012 death of an employee of North American Quarry and Construction Services, LLC has resulted in a $360,000 settlement with the contractor, which has withdrawn its contest of the violations leveled against it by U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

The fatality occurred when a 30-year-old driller attempted to manually load a threaded drill steel into the mast of a drilling machine at the Mt. Marion Pit and Mill, a common shale operation in Ulster County, New York.  Excavating rock involves drilling blast holes and packing them with explosives. After detonation, the loose material is loaded into haul trucks, transported to a processing plant and turned into construction aggregate.