Abstract: Approximately between 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. on December 25, 2009, Employee #1 climbed on top of a 30 ft high salt pile to look into voids caused by a leaching process to melt the pile from below. When approaching the void, the sides gave way, and the employee fell to the bottom and was covered with salt. The employee's body was not retrieved until 3:30 a.m. on December 27, 2009. The employer notified inspection authorities on December 25, 2009, of a missing employee and next made notification of the fatality at 8:00 a.m. on December 28, 2009. The cause of death could have been due to a direct effect of the fall or from suffocation, pending coroner's report. However, the final inspection cited asphyxia as the cause of death.