Lhoist Chemical Lime Plant worker burned to death after his excavator topples over into chemicals leaving him inside

One dead, one injured after accident at lime plant mine in Giles County

On Monday June 20, 2022 Giles County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from the Lhoist Chemical Lime Plant in Ripplemead at approximately 3:58 p.m. Personnel from Giles Sheriff’s Office, Pembroke Fire Department, Giles Rescue Squad, Carilion EMS, Newport Rescue Squad, and Celco Emergency Response Team were dispatched to respond.

Upon their arrival, personnel were advised of an incident inside the mine. An excavator had been engulfed by materials inside of the mine entrapping one individual inside of the cab of the equipment. An additional worker had sustained minor lime chemical burns from attempting a rescue of the equipment operator. That individual was treated and released by EMS at the scene. Both injured individuals were identified to be employees of Gillmann Services, Inc., a contractor that is operating at the facility. All other mine personnel were safe and accounted for at this time.

First responders entered the mine and assisted mine workers with extricating the equipment operator out of the cab of the equipment which had been knocked on its side and engulfed by the materials inside the mine. The equipment operator was found to be deceased at that time, personnel safely extricated the individual from the mine without further incident.

All first responders cleared the scene at 6:44 pm. The mine will remain shut down while the incident is under investigation.

Once authorized personnel from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and Virginia Energy have given their stamp of approval, the mine will reopen.