Abstract: At approximately 5:30 p.m. on October 11, 1996, Employee #1, a coal-handler at a Bethlehem Steel coke plant, was using a broom and shovel to clean coal spillage that had accumulated along coal conveyor #28-A in the east side gallery at the silo D floor chute. She was on the employees' walkway, sweeping the coal into piles and disposing of it down the floor chutes. Employee #1 stepped over or under the standard railing attached to the walkway and continued to clean the floor. Two coworkers were working along the west side of the conveyor, approximately 20 ft away, when Employee #1 fell through a floor chute. She struck the soft, pulverized coal and quickly sank beneath its surface. Employee #1 died of mechanical asphyxia.