Pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. Wednesday was 54-year-old Robert Maust of Uniontown, who had worked for Consol for nearly two years and had almost nine years' experience working in other mines.
Consol spokesman Joseph Cerenzia said Maust, who was married with two grown sons, was struck in the torso by the rock.
"Let me make this clear. This was not a roof fall," Cerenzia said.
Cerenzia explained that EMT miners were nearby and attempted CPR while taking him out of the mine.
"The attempt was unsuccessful," he said.
Maust was a roof bolter and was working in the continuous mining section alongside a continuous miner.
"They were driving development entries to support the longwall when the rock fell," Cerenzia said.
The last mine fatality to occur at Bailey was in 2000, Cerenzia said, but he could provide no details about the incident.
According to Observer-Reporter archives, Jeffrey John Cunko of Washington County died in a Pittsburgh hospital Oct. 29, 2000, of a ruptured femoral artery and vein after being struck by a piece of metal from a chain that snapped while he was working in the mine.
Cerenzia said the rate of incidents such as injuries and falls at Bailey in 2008 was 2.56 incidents per 1 million exposure hours.
"That compares to six to seven incident rates per million man-hours industrywide," Cerenzia said.
Cerenzia said the fatality was being investigated by Consol's Safety and Operation team, the Mine Safety Health Administration and the state Mine Safety Department. Those agencies will review the facts and issue a final report, he said.